BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping, in his New Year address on Wednesday, said that Taiwan’s reunification with China was “unstoppable”, while projecting advances in the country’s defence, economic and technological sectors. He also highlighted the start of construction of what he described as the world’s largest dam on the Brahmaputra river.
“Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a bond of blood and kinship,” Xi said in his nationally televised New Year message for 2026. “The reunification of our motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable,” he said.
The remarks came amid stepped-up high-intensity military drills by the Chinese armed forces over the past three days around the self-governing island, which China claims as part of its mainland.
This is the sixth time since 2022 that China has carried out intensified military exercises, practising scenarios related to the capture of Taiwan.
In his address, Xi also sought to project Beijing’s progress in economic, defence and technology sectors. “Construction of the hydropower project at the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo has started,” Xi said, referring to the Brahmaputra river.
China has formally begun work on the USD 170 billion dam in Tibet, close to the Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh, a move that has raised concerns over potential flooding in lower riparian areas of India and Bangladesh.