On New Year’s, Chinese President Xi Jinping Said The Reunification Of Taiwan With China Is "Unstoppable"
“We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a bond of blood and kinship. The reunification of our motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable.”
In his annual New Year’s address, Chinese president Xi Jinping has again vowed to reunify China and Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.
Xi’s speech on Wednesday, Dec. 31, came after China finished conducting intense military drills around Taiwan just days before on Monday and Tuesday.
The drills simulated a blockade of Taiwan’s main ports and involved navy, air force, rocket force and coastguards encircling Taiwan’s main island.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said that the Chinese army had fired 27 missiles into waters near Taiwan that came closer to the country’s main island than in previous live-fire drills, on Tuesday.
It also said it detected hundreds of war planes and ships, as well as a surveillance balloon from Monday, Dec. 29.
Analysts said the drills were expected before the end of 2025 but were also likely connected to US President Donald Trump’s government approving a record US$11 billion in weapons sale to Taiwan on Dec. 17.
Speaking in Beijing, Xi lauded the progress China had made in economic and social development and said that China had “embraced the world with open arms,” through several multilateral conferences hosted by Beijing in 2025.
He said that China would “unswervingly implement” the policy of “One Country, Two Systems” with regards to Hong Kong.
He then added that “We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a bond of blood and kinship. The reunification of our motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable.”
On Thursday, Jan. 1, Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te delivered his own New Year’s speech, vowing to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty.
"In the face of China's rising expansionist ambitions, the international community is watching to see whether the Taiwanese people have the resolve to defend themselves," Lai said.
In response to Lai’s speech, Chinese authorities called him "a saboteur of peace, a troublemaker and a warmonger," according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.
"No matter what Lai and the Democratic Progressive Party authorities say or do, they cannot change the fact that Taiwan is part of China," a Chinese spokesperson said.
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