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“The complete reunification of our country will be and can be realised,” Xi said.

He also warned against foreign interference in Taiwan after a Pentagon official confirmed US special operations forces have been quietly training Taiwanese troops for months.

“The Taiwan issue is purely China’s internal affair and does not allow any external interference,” he said.

“Nobody should underestimate the Chinese people’s firm resolution, staunch will and formidable capacity to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.

Beijing has ramped up pressure on Taipei since the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen, who views the island as “already independent”.

“Taiwan independence is the biggest obstacle to the reunification of the motherland and a serious hidden danger,” Xi warned. “Those who forget their origins, betray the motherland, or split the country never meet a good end, and will inevitably be spurned by the people and put on trial by history.”

Tsai is scheduled to speak today at an event commemorating the 1911 revolution, one of the few events that unite China and Taiwan.

Taiwan’s defence minister said Wednesday that military tensions with China were at their highest in four decades, after around 150 Chinese warplanes -- a record number -- made incursions into Taiwan’s air defence zone in recent days.

Xi’s comments come after Britain last week sent a warship through the Taiwan Strait, challenging Beijing’s claim to the sensitive waterway, and a French delegation visited Taiwan despite warnings from China.

On Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian rebuked comments made by French delegation member Alain Richard, who referred to Taiwan as a “country” during a speech on Thursday.

Zhao said Richard, a former French defence minister, made the remarks “out of self-interest to undermine relations between China and France”, adding that his use of the term “country” had “blatantly violated” international practice”.

Xi’s yesterday’s speech struck a slightly softer tone than in July, his last major speech mentioning Taiwan, in which he vowed to “smash” any attempts at formal independence. In 2019, he directly threatened to use force to bring the island under Beijing’s control.

Still, the speech was poorly received in Taiwan.

The presidential office said they were a sovereign independent country, not part of the People’s Republic of China, and had clearly rejected China’s offer of “one country, two systems” to rule the island.

“The nation’s future rests in the hands of Taiwan’s people,” the office said.

In a separate statement, Taiwan’s China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council called on Beijing to “abandon its provocative steps of intrusion, harassment and destruction” and return to talks.