Chinese President Xi Jinping said China would “surely be reunified” with Taiwan during his televised New Year’s address, renewing Beijing’s threats to take over the self-ruled island, which it considers its own.

Taiwan split from China amid civil war in 1949, but Beijing continues to regard the island of 23 million with its high-tech economy as Chinese territory and has been ramping up its threat to achieve that by military force if necessary.

“China will surely be reunified, and all Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should be bound by a common sense of purpose,” Xi said in his annual address, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

China has described Taiwan’s Jan. 13 presidential and parliamentary elections as a choice between war and peace.

  • balderdash
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    1 year ago

    China senses Americans are tired of the US policing the world. They probably would have tried something sooner if not for the massive economics embargo the West placed on Russia when they invaded Ukraine.

    • pelerinli@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      To be honest West didn’t do much. Sending too few weapons but talking big? Seizing money? Not buying energy directly but “have trade” indirectly? Why will China be afraid of all these?

      Let’s face it, China is on new imperialism-speedrun and nobody will stop them because they grabbed all companies and politians by their hair via cheap labor capitalism.