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Chinese President Xi Jinping has used his annual new year address to the nation to sound a warning to Taiwan’s voters days ahead of the island’s presidential election, while highlighting his country’s technological prowess and economic strength.
In the televised speech on Sunday evening, Xi said the “reunification” of Taiwan and China was a “historical inevitability”. He added that “compatriots” on both sides of the Taiwan Strait must share in the glory of “national rejuvenation”.
Xi’s speech comes at a time of rising geopolitical tensions between China and the west. The US and its allies are concerned about China’s assertiveness in disputed territories in the South China Sea and the rise in military activity around Taiwan, which holds presidential elections on January 13.
China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, has not ruled out using force if Taipei refuses unification indefinitely. Beijing has denounced the frontrunner in Taiwan’s presidential race, the ruling Democratic Progressive party’s Lai Ching-te, as a separatist.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, who delivered her final new year address and spoke to journalists on Monday in Taipei, reiterated that cross-Strait relations should be decided by democracy and “the will of the Taiwanese people”.
Tsai also delivered a fresh warning over Chinese “interference” in the upcoming presidential and legislative polls. Beijing prefers the Kuomintang, Taiwan’s largest opposition party which promotes stronger ties with the Chinese Communist party.
Xi’s comments on Taiwan was in line with the message delivered to US President Joe Biden in San Francisco in November, when he said, according to Chinese state media, that “China will realise reunification, and this is unstoppable”. However the language was stronger than in his last new year address, when he referred to “members of one and the same family” who should work together for “lasting prosperity”.
Xi was speaking against a backdrop of China’s slower than expected recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and a challenging economic outlook.
Despite increased monetary and fiscal stimulus in the world’s second-biggest economy, China’s economic planners are heading into 2024 fighting a liquidity crisis in the property sector and high local government debts, coupled with tepid domestic demand and weak confidence among investors and consumers.
In his speech on Sunday, Xi, who many consider China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, insisted the economy had “sustained the momentum of recovery”. But he acknowledged there had been “headwinds”, adding: “Some enterprises had a tough time, some people had difficulty finding jobs and meeting basic needs.”
However, he also signalled that his administration would remain averse to big policy changes that would put the higher priorities of security and stability at risk.
“We will continue to act on the principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, promoting stability through progress, and establishing the new before abolishing the old,” the Chinese leader said.
Xi has made China’s technological self-sufficiency a priority in the face of intensifying trade tensions with the US. On Sunday he struck a more positive tone on the pace of Chinese technological advancements.
He pointed to Chinese deep sea exploration, the first Chinese-made passenger jet — the C919 — which made its maiden commercial flight in May, and the country’s “manufacturing prowess” in electric vehicles, lithium batteries and solar photovoltaic cells.
“Everywhere across our country, new heights are being scaled with dogged determination, and new creations and innovations are emerging every day,” he said, adding that China would “redouble efforts to boost education, advance science and technology and cultivate talents”.
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