China's army committed to keeping world peace: defense minister

MOSCOW, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu said Tuesday that Chinese armed forces remain steadfast in safeguarding world peace at the 11th Moscow Conference on International Security.

Li said China is ready to strengthen strategic mutual trust in military security and cooperation on multiple fronts and jointly build security cooperation platforms with other countries' military forces to further safeguard global security.

Li said the Global Security Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping advocates common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. It promotes a new security path featuring dialogue over confrontation, partnership over alliance, and win-win over zero-sum, which the international community has warmly echoed.

Li stressed that the Taiwan question is an internal Chinese affair prohibiting external interference, with the reunification of China inevitable. Playing with fire on the Taiwan question and attempts to "contain China with Taiwan" are doomed to fail.

On the sidelines of the conference, Li exchanged views with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu on bilateral military relations and cooperation and held bilateral meetings with the heads of defense departments and armed forces of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Vietnam and other countries.