 Beijing 'seriously concerned' by Trump's One China remarks: govt Beijing (AFP) Dec 12, 2016 - Beijing is "seriously concerned" by US president-elect Donald Trump's suggestion that he could drop Washington's One China policy unless the mainland makes concessions on trade and other issues, it said Monday. If the One China principle, which guides relations with self-ruling Taiwan, is "compromised or disrupted, the sound and steady growth of China-US relations as well as bilateral cooperation in major fields would be out of the question", foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular briefing. Beijing considers Taiwan a "core interest" that affects China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said, adding that adherence to the One China policy was the "political bedrock" for relations with the US. The comments came in response to Trump's remarks in an interview Sunday that he did not see why Washington must "be bound by a One China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade". He vehemently defended taking a call earlier this month from Tsai Ing-wen, the president of democratically self-ruling Taiwan, which Beijing has not controlled for more than 60 years but considers a rogue province awaiting unification. Although the United States is Taiwan's main ally and arms supplier, Washington has not had official diplomatic relations with Taipei since 1979, when it switched recognition to Beijing.
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Taiwan's defence minister called on youths to join the army Monday after Chinese military aircraft came near the island over the weekend during a drill for the second time in the past month.
Saturday's incident saw more than 10 Chinese aircraft pass through the Miyako Strait in Japan's Okinawa chain as well as the Bashi Channel to the south of Taiwan, according to the defence ministry.
Officials gave no further detail on how close the planes had come to the island, but they did not enter Taiwan's airspace.
It comes as tense cross-strait relations have been further rattled by United States president-elect Donald Trump's unprecedented phone call with Taiwan's Beijing-sceptic president Tsai Ing-wen, and his suggestion Sunday that he could drop Washington's "one China" policy which guides relations with self-ruling Taiwan.
Taiwan's defence minister Feng Shih-kuan called the timing of China's air drill a coincidence, but warned the island is still at risk of military threat.
"China's actions must have political significance," Feng told reporters Monday.
The defence ministry does not always make such incidents public, but wanted to raise awareness of "threats" to the island, said Feng.
"We want to let our people know that we still face threats from our enemies," he said.
Feng used the opportunity to urge youngsters to sign up for Taiwan's military, which consists of around 200,000 troops, a fraction of China's 2.3 million-strong army.
"We hope aspiring young people can join the military force under the recruitment system and defend our country," Feng said.
China poses the main military threat to Taiwan, which Beijing sees as part of its territory to be brought into its fold -- by force if necessary.
It has 1,500 missiles aimed at the island, according to Taiwan's defence ministry.
Taiwan has been struggling to end one-year compulsory conscription and make its military a voluntary service, delaying its target date several times due to insufficient recruitment.
An earlier plan to make the forces voluntary by 2017 was pushed back again in August. Feng said that the defence ministry would halt conscription from 2018.
Saturday's drill also prompted a spat between Beijing and Tokyo after China's defence ministry alleged Japanese fighter jets obstructed its aircraft during the excercise, launching "decoy flares."
Tokyo has denied the accusation.
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