China issues stinging rebuke of US at Beijing defense forum

China's defense minister lashed out at U.S. foreign policy Monday, saying China wasn't fazed by sanctions, pressure or a "big stick" approach, while reiterating threats to force the self-governing island democracy of Taiwan to accept rule from Beijing. Gen. Wei Fenghe did not refer directly to the U.S. in his opening remarks at the Xiangshan Forum, an annual gathering in Beijing patterned on other multilateral gatherings such as Singapore's Shangri-la Dialogue. But he repeated phrases Beijing often says about Washington and its Western allies as part of what China considers an ongoing campaign to restrain its development. "No one and no force will be able to stop the course" of China's annexation of Taiwan, Feng said in an opening address to the forum, whose catchphrase this year is "Maintaining International Order and Promoting Peace in the Asia-Pacific." China "will never allow the separatists for Taiwan independence to take their chances or any external forces to interfere into the Taiwan affairs. Reunification of the motherland is a justified course and separatist activities are doomed to failure," Wei said.