"We will strive for the process of peaceful reunification with utmost sincerity and greatest efforts but we make no promise to renounce the use of force," General Wei Fenghe told an international security conference in Singapore.

"Any underestimation of the PLA's (People's Liberation Army) resolve and will is extremely dangerous," he said, calling it the army's "sacred duty" to defend Chinese territory.

The two sides have been ruled separately since the end of a civil war on the mainland in 1949 but China still sees Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified.

Wei added: "If anyone dares to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese military has no choice but to fight at all costs. At all cost, for national unity."