PATRIOT PARK /Moscow Region/, August 15. /TASS/. Attempts to 'play with fire' by stoking tensions over Taiwan and schemes to use the island to contain China are doomed to fail, Chinese Defense Minister, State Councilor and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) General Li Shangfu said at the 11th Moscow Conference on International Security.

"Playing with fire regarding the Taiwan problem or attempts to use it to contain China are doomed to fail," he stressed.

"The Taiwan question is an internal issue of the PRC [People’s Republic of China], which does not tolerate external interference. The reunification of China is [in line with the] historical trend," the defense chief added.

Taiwan has been governed by its own administration since 1949, when the remnants of the Kuomintang forces under Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled to the island after being defeated in the Chinese civil war. Taipei has since retained the flag and some other attributes of the former Republic of China, which had existed on the mainland before the Communists came to power. Official Beijing considers Taiwan to be a province of the People’s Republic of China.