Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a New Year’s Eve speech that China and Taiwan are “one family” and vowed to take control of the self-ruled island.
“We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same family,” Mr. Xi said, according to a transcript provided by the Foreign Ministry. “No one can ever sever the bond of kinship between us, and no one can ever stop China’s reunification, a trend of the times.”
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said in October that Taipei will “uphold the commitment to resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty.”
Mr. Lai also called for maintaining the fragile status quo that has maintained the peace across the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait, in the face of increasing Chinese military provocations that have gone far beyond previous intimidation exercises.
Mr. Xi made a veiled reference to global instability as a result of wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, citing in his remarks “a world of both transformation and turbulence.”
China is continuing to promote its communist system in what Mr. Xi called the Global South through its infrastructure-financing Belt and Road Initiative and other outreach activities in Africa, Central Asia and the Asia Pacific region. “We have contributed greatly to the maintenance of world peace and stability,” Mr. Xi said.
At home, China’s economy is struggling with real estate problems and financial problems, although Mr. Xi insisted in his remarks that the economic has rebounded and is on an upward trajectory. China’s navy and air force celebrated their 75th anniversaries, and Chinese troops are “full of drive,” he added.
Mr. Xi also said Chinese researchers have made breakthroughs in integrated circuit, artificial intelligence, quantum communications and other areas.
