Following one of the biggest naval exercises around Taiwan at the end of December, China’s President, Xi Jinping, has vowed to reunify China and Taiwan in his annual New Year’s Eve speech in Beijing.

Using the ceremony of the National Games as reference, where he was “glad to see Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao coming together in unity and acting in unison,” he stated that “Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a bond of blood and kinship.” Then, he strongly added, that “the reunification of our motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable!”

During his speech, he also highlighted a series of innovation successes achieved by China in the last National 5 years-plan. His list spaced over different science and technology fields: from AI models to the development of own chips, the Tianwen 2 project to explore asteroids and comets, the start of the construction of the hydropower project on the Yarlung Zangbo River, and the commissioning of China's first aircraft carrier equipped with an electromagnetic catapult system. President Xi also praised China’s hi-tech development and culture, mentioning kickboxing robots, drones and the global success of the video game “Black Myth: Wukong” and the animated film “Ne Zha 2”.

As anticipated, Xi’s speech just came after China’s People’s Liberation Army launched live-fire military drills around Taiwan, simulating a blockade of main ports and sending its joint force (Navy, Air Force, Rocket force and Coastguard) to encircle the “rebel” island. The exercise, called “Justice Mission 2025”, involved a massive number of warplanes (130 PLAAF aircraft), ships, surveillance balloons and fired missiles, some of them landing within 27 nautical miles of Taipei’s coastline, according with Taiwan sources.

Despite PLA looking still far to have the capability to achieve an easy invasion of the island, the last exercise and Xi’s speech maintain a high pressure on Taipei’s government. In his own “mirroring” New Year’s Day address, Taiwan’s President, Lai Ching-te, warned his people of China’s “rising expansionary ambitions” and vowed to “staunchly defend national sovereignty.” According to it he strongly called for a bi-partizan consciousness to stop blocking a special bill which would increase Taiwan’s defense budget.

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