Xi Jinping vows Taiwan reunification with China in New Year’s speech, says ‘no one can separate the two’

Chinese President Xi Jinping, in his New Year’s address, reiterated his stance on Taiwan, saying "no one can stop its reunification" with China.

Xi, in a speech televised on China’s state broadcaster CCTV on New Year’s Eve, laid a clear warning, emphasizing that Taiwan belongs to China.

“The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family. No one can sever our family bonds, and no one can stop the historical trend of national reunification,” Xi said.

China has long exhibited an overt and muscular force through its air force and naval drills around Taiwan.

The island nation, however, has rejected Beijing’s claims saying only its people can decide and that China must respect the choice of its people.

Last year, China intensified its pressure on Taiwan by stepping up its military presence around the region by sending warships and planes into the waters and air space almost daily.

The Taiwanese officials said that it was an attempt to “normalize” China’s military presence.

Both China and Taiwan are two opposite poles as they have a different way of life. While Taiwan is a democratic nation, China is a communist country.

Xi’s statement comes at a crucial juncture with just three weeks left before Donald Trump takes office as US President. The US officially supports the 'One China' policy and does not recognize Taiwan as a country but often contradicts its own stance.

Meanwhile, the US considers Taiwan as its strategic ally in Asia and Washington is Taipei's largest supplier of weapons too.
The Taiwan issue is China's most sensitive territorial matter and a key point of conflict with Washington.

Geographically, the Strait of Taiwan - a waterway that connects the South China Sea to the East China Sea separates China and Taiwan.

Before World War II, Japan ruled Taiwan modernizing infrastructure but facing resistance from local populations.

However, after Japan’s defeat in World War II, Taiwan was handed back to China which was governed by the Republic of China (ROC).

But in 1949, the ROC government retreated from Taiwan, after which Taiwan developed as a separate political entity under the ROC, transitioning into a democracy, and China claiming sovereignty over it.