Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday said that reunification of Taiwan with China is "unstoppable," a day after Beijing concluded two-day military drills around the island.
"We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a bond of blood and kinship. The reunification of our motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable," said Xi in his New Year address.
Beijing launched the two-day Justice Mission 2025 joint military drills on Monday, days after the US approved a one-time record sale of arms worth over $11 billion to Taipei.
China deems Taiwan a "breakaway province" while Taipei has insisted on its independence since 1949.
"The world today is undergoing both changes and turbulence, and some regions are still engulfed in war," Xi said.
"China always stands on the right side of history and is ready to work with all countries to advance world peace and development and build a community with a shared future for humanity," he added.
As 2025 marks the completion of the 14th Five-Year Plan for economic and social development, China met the targets laid out in the plan and "made solid advances on the new journey of Chinese modernization," Xi said.
Xi stated that they expect China's gross domestic product (GDP) to reach 140 trillion yuan ($20.01 trillion) in 2025.
"Our economic strength, scientific and technological abilities, defense capabilities, and composite national strength all reached new heights," he said.
Xi also commented on the technological developments the country has made, saying: "Many large AI models have been competing in a race to the top, and breakthroughs have been achieved in the research and development of our own chips."
He also noted Fujian, the country's first aircraft carrier equipped with an electromagnetic catapult system, which was commissioned this year, alongside the development of humanoid robots and drones.
"All this has turned China into one of the economies with the fastest growing innovation capabilities," he said.
In 2026, at the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan, he said, China "should focus on our goals and tasks, boost confidence, and build momentum to press ahead."
"We should take solid steps to promote high-quality development, further deepen reform and opening up across the board, deliver prosperity for all, and write a new chapter in the story of China's miracle," Xi added.
