Top People's Liberation Army general Zhang Wannian was certain that war would erupt between mainland China and Taiwan but his prediction did not come to pass in his lifetime.
Zhang, a former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, died of illness in Beijing on Tuesday, CCTV reported. He was 87.
The sole senior Chinese military representative at the Hong Kong handover ceremonies on the eve of July 1, 1997, Zhang was known for his hawkish attitude towards Taiwan when he was in charge of its affairs between 1995 and 2003.
"It's inevitable that a war will break out over the Taiwan Strait within the current five-year plan (2000-2005)," the general said at a PLA armament conference in October 2000, months after Chen Shui-bian, of Taiwan's pro-independent Democratic Progressive Party, became the self-governed island's president.
According to a report by Taipei-based China Times in 2000, Zhang even said Beijing would launch a "pre-emptive ballistic missile strike" on Taiwan to ensure the PLA's victory if the two sides came to war.
The action would paralyse the island's power supply system and immobilise its air and naval forces, the article quoted him as saying.