Chinese leader Xi Jinping promised the reunification of Taiwan with mainland China during his year-end address on Sunday.
Tensions between China and Taiwan remain high, and Taiwanese voters are set to participate in the island’s elections on Jan. 13. Xi has repeatedly affirmed China’s stance that Taiwan is a part of China and that it must be reunified, by force if necessary.
“All Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should be bound by a common sense of purpose and share in the glory of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” Xi said in Sunday’s address.
“The motherland will surely be reunified,” he added.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping reviews the honor guard during a welcome ceremony at The Great Hall of the People on Nov. 22, 2023, in Beijing. (Florence Lo – Pool/Getty Images)
The speech was the second time in a matter of days that Xi addressed the Taiwan issue. Xi also vowed to reunify Taiwan on Tuesday during a symposium in Beijing commemorating the 130th anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong, the founding father of Communist China.
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“The complete reunification of the motherland is an irresistible trend,” Xi said at the event, adding that China would “resolutely prevent anyone from splitting” the two sides.
A view of the Taipei 101 outside the Presidential Office Building, Taipei, Taiwan. Taiwan is set to hold its elections on Jan. 13, and the leading presidential candidate leans toward independence for the island. (Tommy Walker/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, in Taiwan, residents are preparing to head for the polls. Current opinion polls show residents favoring independence-leaning candidate Lai Ching-te.
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China has bristled at any international indication of Taiwan’s independence. Xi’s military conducted weeks of live-fire exercises around the Island in 2022 after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., traveled there.
Nancy Pelosi’s 2022 visit to Taiwan set off a slew of Chinese responses. (Chien Chih-Hung/Office of The President via Getty Images)
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Taiwan split from mainland China in 1949, when democratic forces fled there after losing a civil war against the Chinese Communist Party.