China’s president said reunification with Taiwan, which will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on January 13, “will definitely happen.”
In his televised New Year’s address, Chinese President Xi Jinping said “unification” with Taiwan was inevitable and reiterated Beijing’s threat to take over the autonomous island.
Taiwan split from China In 1949, during the civil war, Beijing It continues to consider the island of 23 million people as its own territory.
in recent years, Mr. Xi And his officials are ramping up military pressure to assert their sovereignty claims over democratically ruled Taiwan.
“China will definitely be unified. All Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should be bound by a sense of common purpose,” Xi said in his annual New Year address.
Although the president did not mention military threats in his speech, China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under Chinese control.
As relations between China and Taipei become increasingly strained, Taiwan will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on January 13th.
The Chinese government considers the ruling Democratic People’s Party’s top presidential candidate William Lai, who is currently vice president, a “separatist” and that he and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen are trying to provoke a Chinese attack on Taiwan. He blames it. .
China Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Chen Bin-hua on Saturday called Lai a “destroyer of peace” after he defended Taiwan’s right to govern Taiwan as a democracy in a televised debate that day. .
Mr. Chen said Mr. Lai’s remarks at the debate were “full of confrontational thinking,” adding that the vice president was “an instigator of a potentially dangerous war in the Taiwan Strait.”
Lai has not described himself as seeking independence from Beijing, but generally maintains that Taiwan is already an independent country.
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Rivals in the election include Hou You-xi of the more pro-China Nationalist Party and Ke Wen-ji of the Taiwan People’s Party.
On the other hand, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin made only one passing mention of ukraine In his New Year’s address on Sunday, he instead praised soldiers as “heroes” who are “on the front lines of the fight for truth and justice.”
“To those on the combat bases: You are our heroes and our hearts are with you. We are proud of you and admire your courage,” he said. Ta.
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Pre-recorded speeches were broadcast before midnight each day. Russia‘s 11 time zones compared to last year. I was standing with soldiers with grim expressions. To make harsh demands for sacrifice in what he cast as a fight for survival.
President Putin, 71, is almost certain to win elections in March, having gained control of all major opposition groups.