Reunification with Taiwan a historical inevitability: Xi

The Chinese President also urged citizens to brace for more economic challenges in 2024 amid the many headwinds facing the world’s second-largest economy.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has used his new year's eve speech to urge caution

China’s “reunification” with Taiwan was inevitable, President Xi Jinping said in his new year’s address on Sunday, with less than two weeks to go before the island democracy elects a new leader.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen issued a defiant response on Monday, saying while she hoped for “long-term peaceful coexistence” between Taipei and Beijing, future relations should be decided by Taiwan’s “democratic procedures”.

China considers Taiwan to be its “sacred territory” and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under Chinese control, though Mr Xi made no mention of military threats in his speech carried on state television.

“The reunification of the motherland is a historical inevitability,” Mr Xi said, though the official English translation of his remarks published by the Xinhua news agency used a more simple phrase: “China will surely be reunified.”

Fresh challenges loom for China in the year of the dragon. Picture: Getty Images

Last year, Mr Xi said only that people on either side of the strait were “members of one and the same family” and that he hoped people on both sides would work together to “jointly foster lasting prosperity of the Chinese nation”.

Earlier on Sunday Mr Xi had sent new year’s greetings to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which he hailed strengthening the “no limits” relationship with Moscow in 2023, according to an official foreign ministry readout.

On Monday Mr Xi said he was willing to work with the US to promote stable bilateral ties, exchanging congratulations with President Joe Biden on the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations, state media said.

China’s property market slump has pushed debt at major developers like Evergrande to new heights. Picture: Noel Celis/AFP

Mr Xi used the bulk of his new year’s address to urge the nation to brace for more economic challenges in the year ahead, sounding a downbeat note as a string of weak readings highlights the many headwinds facing the second-largest economy.

“On the path ahead, winds and rains are the norm,” Mr Xi said, promising more efforts to shore up growth and address concerns over jobs and the cost of living.

“Some companies are facing business pressures; some people are running into difficulties finding jobs and in their daily living.”

Mr Xi underscored the importance of the economy to the country’s political priorities, noting that in 2024 – the 75th anniversary of the communist victory – China must “further boost confidence in development, and enhance economic vitality”.

China’s citizens are hoping for a brighter 2024 after years of Covid pressures. Picture: Pedro Pardo/AFP

In her last new year speech before leaving office in May, Ms Tsai expressed hopes to restart communications with Beijing.

“We hope that the two sides (of the Taiwan Strait) will resume healthy and sustainable exchanges as soon as possible,” she said. “We also hope that the two sides will jointly seek a long-term and stable way of peaceful coexistence under peace, parity, democracy and dialogue.”

But Ms Tsai – whom Beijing hates as she has refused to acknowledge China’s territorial claims – stood firm on Taiwan’s need to defend its democracy.

“Facing the renewed conflict between democracy, freedom and authoritarianism around the world, Taiwan’s only choice in the future is still to continue to uphold democracy and protect peace,” she said.

Ms Tsai, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term at the January 13 elections, was to comment on Mr Xi’s remarks that Taiwan “will surely be reunified” with China.

“Decisions must be made with the common will of the Taiwanese people. We are a democratic country after all,” she said.

“What kind of relationship we will form with China in the future must be determined by our democratic procedures to make the final decision.”

Mr Xi’s remarks came hours after Beijing published data that offered fresh signs of weakness in the Chinese economy, piling pressure on the government to take bold new steps to fire up growth in the coming year.

Official surveys released on Sunday suggest factory activity slid deeper into contraction in December. After a turbulent year for growth, China’s top leaders have signalled that more help is coming for the economy, with pledges of new fiscal stimulus and supportive central bank policy in the months ahead.

“What comes next? Another year of muddling through,” TS Lombard head of Asian economics Rory Green predicted in a report on the year ahead for China’s economy. “Growth is not going to collapse but neither will it re-accelerate.”

One stark sign of China’s difficult year is a high rate of youth unemployment, which exceeded 21 per cent in June before the statistics agency said it would stop publishing the data.

Another sign is deflation. Consumer and producer prices were lower in November than a year earlier. The weakness in price growth in China contrasts sharply with the painful inflation experienced in most of the world until recently. Still, China’s economy is expected to expand by about 5 per cent in 2023, a better performance than in 2022 but slower than growth rates it typically notched before Covid-19.

Mr Xi signalled he would press ahead with “Chinese-style modernisation”, a slogan that encapsulates his vision of state-led economic development. He also signalled more government attention to youth employment, as well as concerns over the costs of child-rearing and elderly care.

“Everyone is very busy and the stresses of working and living are very great,” he said. “We need to create a warm and harmonious social atmosphere … and create convenient and comfortable living conditions.”

AFP