Chinese leader Xi Jinping used his New Year’s address Tuesday evening to project confidence about the country’s economic outlook and repeat threats about taking over Taiwan, as Beijing grapples with an ailing economy and the looming inauguration of a U.

"The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family," Mr Xi said in a speech televised on China's state broadcaster CCTV. “No one can sever our family bonds, and no one can stop the historical trend of national reunification.”

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Wednesday that he welcomed equal, dignified, healthy and orderly exchanges with China, but wondered whether there was goodwill from Beijing given what he said was their blocking of simple things like tourism.

China’s dispute with Taiwan will most likely not lead to a “boots on the ground invasion”, claims Spectator Australia’s ‘Fire at Will’ podcast host Will Kingston.

In a clear warning to what Beijing view as pro-independence forces within and outside of Taiwan, China's President Xi Jinping on Tuesday said that no one can stop China's reunification with Taiwan. While addressing his New Year's speech which was televised on China's state broadcaster CCTV,