BEIJING, Aug 1: China's defence minister has warned that the country's army has the will and the strength to "smash" any attempt by Taiwan to become independent, state media reported on Sunday.

Adding to weeks of escalating Chinese rhetoric, Cao Gangchuan issued the stark message at a ceremony to celebrate the 77th anniversary the 2.5-million-strong People's Liberation Army, according to the Beijing Youth Daily.

"If Taiwan independence forces continue to act will fully, the People's Liberation Army has the determination and capability to resolutely smash any 'Taiwan independence' splittist conspiracy," he said.

"China's sovereignty and territorial integrity is the supreme objective, and the will of 1.3 billion Chinese can not be violated," he told a gathering late Saturday at Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

Cao's warning came just a day after Taiwan Affairs Office Vice Minister Wang Zaixi said China may attack Taiwan before 2008 if the island's President Chen Shui-bian pushed his timetable too hard.

China is deeply worried about Chen's plan to submit a revised constitution to a referendum in 2006 and enact the document in 2008, fearing it may push the island further towards formal independence from the mainland.

"Solving the Taiwan issue and bringing about complete unification of the motherland is in the basic interest of all Chinese, including the Taiwan compatriots," Cao said in his Saturday speech.

"With 'Taiwan independence,' there is no peace, with splittism there is no stability." He said that "peaceful reunification" with the island, which has been governed separately since the end of a civil war in 1949, remained the basic policy of the Chinese government. -AFP