AFP,
Beijing
China’s President Xi Jinping said yesterday that “no one can stop” unification with Taiwan, as he addressed the nation in a New Year’s speech.
Beijing claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory, and has said it will not renounce the use of force to bring it under its control.
China has intensified pressure on the democratic island in recent years, and has staged three rounds of major military drills since President Lai Ching-te came to power in May.
“Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family. No one can sever our blood ties, and no one can stop the historical trend of the reunification of the motherland,” Xi said in a speech broadcast on state media.
Russia will ‘move forward’ in 2025: Putin
REUTERS,
Moscow
President Vladimir Putin told Russians in a New Year address that the country would move forward with confidence in 2025.
He said that Russia had strengthened its unity in the first quarter of the 21st century, achieving significant goals and overcoming trials.
“And now, on the threshold of the new year, we are thinking about the future. We are confident that everything will be fine, we will only move forward. We know for sure that the absolute value for us was, is and will be the fate of Russia, the well-being of its citizens,” he said.