President Xi Jinping said no one can ever stop Taiwan's reunification with China as he signed off 2024 amid growing anxieties in the country over the continued slowdown of the economy and the return of Donald Trump, who has threatened to impose punitive tariffs and trade measures against Beijing in his second term.
"We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same family. No one can ever sever the bond of kinship between us," Xi said while delivering his 2025 New Year Address televised on the state broadcaster.
China claims the self-ruled island Taiwan as part of its mainland and makes 'One-China', recognising Taiwan as part of it, as a mandatory diplomatic policy.
Recently, Xi, in his third five-year term, has made efforts to reintegrate Taiwan with China, a move he has termed as a significant military and diplomatic initiative.
Under foreign policy, Xi reaffirmed China's position of promoting the reform of global governance and contribution to the preservation of world peace and stability.
In a world of both transformation and turbulence, China, as a responsible major country, is actively promoting global governance reform and deepening solidarity and cooperation among the Global South," he added.
The other main focus of Xi’s New Year message was to reassure the Chinese public about the economy, which has slowed considerably after COVID-19, resulting in the collapse of the lucrative real estate sector and job losses due to the closure of businesses across the country.
China’s economy has rebounded and is on an upward trajectory, with GDP expected to cross the 130-trillion-yuan (about USD 18.08 trillion) mark in 2024.
He said the grain output has exceeded 700 million tonnes.
The country has proactively responded to the impacts of the changing environment at home and abroad, and has adopted a full range of policies to make solid gains in pursuing high-quality development in the past year, he said.
Highlighting the success of the new productive forces like E-Vehicles, he said that new quality productive forces have been created in China with actual conditions. The new business sectors, forms, and models are emerging, he added.
China's annual production of new energy vehicles has topped 10 million for the first time in 2024, and the country has made breakthroughs in integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, quantum communications and many other fields, Xi said.
China, however, is struggling to enhance its exports of e-vehicles as the US and EU have imposed heavy tariffs on their imports.
The main challenge for Xi, however, is to deal with Trump 2-0.
Donald Trump, who has vowed to unleash harsh policies on China, is scheduled to become the US president on January 20.
In his first term, Trump waged a trade war against China by slapping tariffs on over USD 380 billion on Chinese imports in 2018-19, terming that China is stealing from America. His successor, Joe Biden, has retained the tariffs, which has taken a bite from China's bottom line.
During his campaign, Trump threatened to impose over 60 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports, which last year accounted for USD 427.2 billion.
The China-US relations became tense over a host of policies pursued by Trump, including blocking Chinese tech.
He also blamed China for the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that the virus emanated from a bio-lab in Wuhan.
The military relations between the two countries also remained tense under Trump's previous presidency.
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