Beijing Will Never Tolerate Taiwan’s Separation From China: Report

China considers the democratic, self-governing island as part of its territory.

Beijing, China:

Beijing “will never tolerate” Taiwan’s separation from China, a spokesman in the upper peninsula of Taiwan body said Wednesday, after the Chairman Tsai Ing-wen, was inaugurated for a second term.

China considers the democratic, self-governing island as part of its territory, and has repeatedly defended its eventual reunification with the mainland — the use of military force if necessary.

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman of the Office of Taiwan Affairs, said that China had “sufficient ability to defend the national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” according to the official state news agency Xinhua.

Beijing “will never tolerate any separatist activities or external forces interfering in China’s internal politics,” he said.

Ma said that China said it was willing to “create a great space for peaceful reunification”, but “does not leave room for all forms of independence Taiwanese separatist activities”.

China adheres to the principles of “peaceful reunification” and “One Country, Two Systems”, he added, referring to the policy framework used to govern the semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong.

Tsai is hated by Beijing because it views Taiwan as a de facto sovereign state and not as part of “one China”.

In recent years, cross-strait ties are under more pressure as China has isolated Taiwan from its few diplomatic allies and flex its military might in the strait that separates the two.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published at the beginning of a food chain.)