China’s Xi Jinping issues ‘unstoppable’ Taiwan invasion threat | World | News

China’s President Xi Jinping has issued a chilling invasion threat to Taiwan in a bombshell New Year’s address to his country as fears over a possible World War 3 skyrocket.

He said in a speech televised by state broadcaster CCTV: “Compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are bound by blood ties thicker than water, and the historical trend toward national reunification is unstoppable.”

Taiwan is keeping its emergency maritime response centre running as it monitored Chinese naval manoeuvres, the coast guard said. The drills, dubbed Justice Mission 2025, involved China launching dozens of rockets towards Taiwan and deploying large numbers of warships and aircraft around the island, in a display of military strength that alarmed Western allies.

Taipei denounced the drills as a serious threat to regional stability and a blatant act of provocation. Meanwhile, Chinese vessels were beginning to withdraw from waters around Taiwan, though Beijing had not yet officially announced the conclusion of the exercises, according to Kuan Bi-ling, head of Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council.

“The maritime situation has calmed down, with ships and vessels gradually departing. As China has not announced the conclusion of the military exercises, the emergency response centre remains operational,” she said in a Facebook post, December 30.

A Taiwanese coast guard official told Reuters that all 11 Chinese coast guard vessels had departed from waters near Taiwan and were continuing to move farther away. A separate security official said emergency response centres for both the military and coast guard remained operational.