As Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen inaugurates her second term, Beijing sharpened its attack and said it will “never tolerate” Taiwan’s separation from China, a spokesman at the mainland’s top Taiwan body said on Wednesday.

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

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

Beijing would “never tolerate any separatist activities or external forces interfering in China’s internal politics”, he said. Ma said China said was willing to “create a vast space for peaceful reunification”, but will “not leave any room for all forms of Taiwanese independence separatist activities”.

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

Tsai is loathed by Beijing because she views Taiwan as a de facto sovereign state and not part of “one China”. In recent years cross-strait ties have come under more pressure as China has isolated Taiwan from its few remaining diplomatic allies and flexed its military might in the strait separating the two. Beijing, China

She said that Taipei will not accept Beijing’s political terms that would downgrade Taiwan and undermine the cross-strait status quo. 63-year-old President Tsai won the elections late last year with thumping majority and is from the Democratic Progressive Party which is fiercely against China’s claim on the nation.

China has also been using diplomatic pressure on countries supporting Taiwan’s participation in World Health Organisation’s Health Assembly. The World Health Organisation will meet on May 18 to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and will hold a vote to determine whether to grant observer status to Taiwan at the World Health Assembly, its decision-making body. Taiwan’s preparedness and learning from past experiences of SARS and MERS outbreak have come in handy in the recent Coronavirus pandemic. The country has reported 440 cases of infection with 383 patients who have recoveres and 7 deaths from the virus.