Chinese President Xi Jinping in a New Year’s address declared Taiwan and China to be one people and said no nation can stop China from annexing the island nation.
“We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one an the same family,” Xi said during his 2025 New Year Address that was televised nationwide on Tuesday.
“No one can ever sever the bond of kinship between us,” he said.
Chinese officials consider Taiwan to be part of the Chinese mainland and has a “One China” policy declaring Taiwan to be part of China’s sovereign state.
China during the past year has sent warships and military aircraft into the waters and airspace surrounding Taiwan in what Taiwanese officials say is an effort to normalize the presence of the Chinese military in the area.
China also has declared ownership of most of the South China Sea and its islands.
Taiwanese officials reject China’s ownership claims over the island nation that is located about 100 miles east of the Chinese mainland and is separated by the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan has strong trade ties with the United States, which is Taiwan’s primary supplier of military weapons.
Taiwan is the world’s largest producer of semiconductor chips used to power technology and accounts for up to 90% of the world’s supply of semiconductors.
During his New Year Address, Xi acknowledged the Chinese economy faces new “challenges of uncertainties” as the nation prepares to complete a 14th Five-Year Plan in 2025 that Xi said will make China more self-reliant and stronger economically through advancements in science, technology and social development.
“We can prevail in our hard work,” Xi said during the address. “As always, we grow in the wind and rain, and we get stronger through hard times.”
China’s economy has slowed after the COVID-19 pandemic that triggered a collapse in the nation’s real estate sector and forced many businesses to close, which has increased unemployment.
The Chinese economy has improved with an estimated gross domestic product exceeding $18 trillion in 2024.
Xi said China’s continued development and production of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, quantum communications and other technologies will help fuel its economic recovery.
By Mike Heuer – UPI