Beijing, China - China on Thursday refused to rule out the use of force to achieve unification with Taiwan as Beijing continues to conduct military exercises around the self-governed island.

"We make no promise to renounce the use of force, which is targeted at separatist activities for Taiwan independence and external interference," said Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian during a regular press briefing.

Wu was responding to comments made by the US that military exercises conducted by Beijing could be used to conceal a direct attack on Taiwan.

Earlier in February, US Navy Admiral Samuel Paparo told the Honolulu Defense Forum that he doesn't believe that ongoing activities are actually routine exercises, as China claims them to be.

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"We’re very close to [a point] where on a daily basis the fig leaf of an exercise could very well hide operational warning," he said. "Their aggressive maneuvers around Taiwan right now are not exercises as they call them, they are rehearsals. They are rehearsals for the forced unification of Taiwan to the mainland."

On Wednesday, Taiwan mobilized military forces after China deployed 32 aircraft around Taiwan and began conducting "live-fire exercises" less than 50 miles from their coastline.

This was just the latest in a long series of incidents that as Beijing heats up its rhetoric around what it sees as an illegitimate government in Taiwan.

"Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family," Chinese president Xi Jinping said in December.

"No one can sever our blood ties, and no one can stop the historical trend of the reunification of the motherland."