Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a briefing that Beijing is ready to make any efforts to ensure a peaceful reunification with Taiwan, but will not allow its secession.

“China is ready to earnestly make every possible effort to achieve a peaceful reunification [with Taiwan], but it will never allow any individual or force to separate Taiwan,” he emphasized.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump cast doubt on Monday on the prospect of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, expressing confidence in his rapport with counterpart Xi Jinping ahead of their meeting later this month.

Trump was responding to a prior Pentagon evaluation indicating Xi might target 2027 for an attempt to take the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own.

“I think we’ll be just fine with China. China doesn’t want to do that,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

On Xi’s interest in Taiwan, Trump remarked: “Now that doesn’t mean it’s not the apple of his eye, because probably it is, but I don’t see anything happening.”

While not directly committing to military defense of Taiwan, Trump emphasized that China is aware that the United States possesses “the strongest military power in the world by far.”

“We have the best of everything, and nobody’s going to mess with that. And I don’t see that at all with President Xi,” Trump said.

“I think we’re going to get along very well as it pertains to Taiwan and others,” he added.

Trump will hold his first meeting with Xi during his second term when the leaders of the world’s two largest economies visit South Korea later this month for an Asia-Pacific summit.

Trump identified securing a “fair” trade agreement with China as his main focus. He sidestepped a query about potentially trading away US backing for Taiwan in any deal with Xi.

“I want to be good to China. I love my relationship with President Xi. We have a great relationship,” Trump said.

The United States recognizes only China and not Taiwan, where the Chinese mainland’s defeated nationalists fled in 1949 after losing the civil war to the communists, and which has since turned into a flourishing democracy and technology hub.

US law mandates providing Taiwan with arms for self-defense, though Washington maintains deliberate ambiguity about intervening militarily in its defense. Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, had on multiple occasions indicated he would direct US forces to act if China attacked Taiwan.