A citizen runs in front of the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan, on October 1, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

The Chinese mainland is willing to strive for peaceful reunification with the utmost sincerity, but it will never tolerate Taiwan separatist forces and will never allow the tragedy of national secession to be repeated, said a spokesperson of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council on Wednesday, in response to a poll on the island showing that nearly 40 percent of the respondents agreed that "a war is inevitable" to solve the Taiwan question.

According to a recent poll on the island, nearly 40 percent of the respondents in Taiwan agreed with the statement that "a military war will inevitably occur if the long-accumulated cross-Straits disputes are to be resolved," while 54 percent disagreed.

"We do not comment on specific poll results on the island of Taiwan, for the results of polls differ according to various designs of the polls," Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Wednesday.

Ma emphasized that Taiwan belongs to China. It was precisely based on the above-mentioned legal principle and reality that the two sides of the Straits reached the 1992 Consensus, which laid the political foundation for the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations.

The root of the current tension and turbulence in cross-Straits relations lies in the provocation of "secession" by the Taiwan secessionist forces and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities, Ma noted.

"Taiwan secessionist forces divide national sovereignty and territory, harm the common cross-Straits interests, and harm the fundamental interests of China," Ma said.

At an event held by a separatist group on Sunday, Yao Jiawen, one of the co-convenors of the so-called "constitution group" of the DPP, reportedly claimed that Taiwan's new "constitution" should re-name the island as the "Republic of Taiwan." 

Ma remarked that China firmly oppose any form of separatist actions on the island through "amending constitution seeking secession", and will take all necessary countermeasures. "Don't say that we didn't warn you," said Ma on Wednesday.