FILE PHOTO: A military honour guard holds a Taiwanese national flag as he attending flag-raising ceremony at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, in Taipei, Taiwan March 16, 2018. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will not tolerate any Taiwan independence incidents, a spokesman for its defense ministry said on Monday, urging the United States to deal appropriately with the issue.

The spokesman, Wu Qian, made the comments at a news briefing following a meeting of Chinese and U.S. military officials on the sidelines of defense talks in the Thai capital of Bangkok.

The defense ministry of self-ruled Taiwan said a Chinese carrier ship passed through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, tailed by U.S. and Japanese ships. China has never ruled out the use of force to reunite what it regards as a wayward province.

(This story has been refiled to correct paragraph 3 spelling of “tailed”)