Chinese President Xi Jinping used his New Year’s Eve address to reaffirm his commitment to reunifying Taiwan with China, calling it an “unstoppable” trend of the times.

The speech came after China conducted its largest military drills near Taiwan in over a year, involving 200 warplanes, missiles fired near the island, and naval encirclement, actions widely criticized by the U.S., EU, and regional allies.

Xi highlighted China’s growing global influence, including hosting multilateral summits and displaying its largest-ever military parade alongside leaders like Putin and Kim Jong-un, framing a “new world order” aligned with Beijing.

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te responded by warning of China’s “rising expansionary ambitions” and called for unity and increased defense spending to safeguard sovereignty, The Guardian has reported.

Xi also praised domestic achievements in high-tech development, cultural exports, and economic growth, presenting a vision of China as militarily strong, globally influential, and technologically advanced.