WASHINGTON - The top military officer for China refuted recent foreign media reports about China's deployment of missiles across the Taiwan Straits.

General Chen Bingde, chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army, also reiterated that Taiwan is within China's core interests and that any arms sales from the US to Taiwan will damage ties between the two militaries.

In a news briefing with Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Chen said China has always attempted to resolve the question over Taiwan through peaceful means.

"China's military development is mainly targeted at separatist forces. I can tell you here responsibly that we only have garrison deployment across the Taiwan Straits. We do not have operational deployment or missiles stations there," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"To be sure, we did make military preparations to prevent separatist forces who have attempted to split Taiwan from the Chinese territory."

Chen also said Washington should review the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act since cross-Straits relations have had fundamental changes over the past few decades and "any effort to contain China's development by using Taiwan will be futile".

Beijing broke off military ties with the US in January last year because of the US' $6 billion arms deal to Taiwan. In June, China rejected a proposal for a visit by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Gates' visit to China in early January thawed tensions between the two sides.

China Daily

(China Daily 05/19/2011 page1)