BEIJING, Feb 10 (Reuters): China will offer firm support for "patriotic pro-reunification forces" in Taiwan and strike hard against "separatists", the top Chinese official in charge of policy towards the democratically-governed island said in comments published on Tuesday.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory despite the objections of the government in Taipei, has ramped up its military and political pressure against the island as Beijing seeks to assert its sovereignty claims.

Addressing this year's annual "Taiwan Work Conference", the ruling communist party's fourth-ranked leader Wang Huning said officials must advance the "great cause of national reunification", the official state-run Xinhua news agency said.

It is necessary to "firmly support the patriotic pro-unification forces on the island, resolutely strike against 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces, oppose interference by external forces, and safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait", Xinhua paraphrased him as saying.

China has long offered Taiwan a Hong Kong-style "one country, two systems" model of autonomy, though no major Taiwanese political party supports that.

Photo from Reuters