BEIJING (Reuters) -No one can stop China's "reunification" with Taiwan, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his New Year's speech on Tuesday, laying down a clear warning to what Beijing regards as pro-independence forces within and outside of the island of 23 million people.
In the past year, Beijing has stepped up military pressure near Taiwan, sending warships and planes almost daily into the waters and air space around the island in what Taiwanese officials view as a creeping effort to "normalise" China's military presence.
China regards democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory. But Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's claims and says only its people can decide their future and Beijing ought to respect the choice of the Taiwanese people.
"The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family. No one can sever our family bonds, and no one can stop the historical trend of national reunification," Xi said in a speech televised on China's state broadcaster CCTV.
In his New Year's speech last year, Xi said China's "reunification" with Taiwan is inevitable, and that people on both sides "should be bound by a common sense of purpose and share in the glory of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."
Tensions have remained high throughout the year in the sensitive Taiwan Strait, especially after Lai Ching-te, deemed a "separatist" by Beijing, became the island's latest president in May.
Earlier this month, China staged a large massing of naval forces around Taiwan and in the East and South China Seas after Lai stopped over in Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam on a Pacific trip criticised by Beijing.
China, which never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, conducted two rounds of war games around the island this year, saying they were warnings against "separatist acts" and vowed to take further actions if needed.
U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, allowed by the Taiwan Relations Act, have also continued to strain Beijing's ties with Washington.
China has regularly warned the U.S. against any military ties with Taiwan, and slapped sanctions on military suppliers and their executives.