Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed support for the country’s vulnerable elderly and youth in a new year address that acknowledged the strains on some of the 1.4bn-strong population. Xi’s speech comes after his economic planners have for much of the past four years struggled to restore consumer confidence or address rising youth unemployment and slow wage growth.

"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.”

The Chinese leader projected confidence amid Beijing’s economic struggles and ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump, set to take a hard line on China.

Chinese President Xi Jinping in a New Year's address declared Taiwan and China to be one people and said no nation can stop China from annexing the island nation.

Weeks before Trump takes office, the Chinese leader is seeking to shore up confidence that China’s economy can withstand threats.

Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized China’s commitment to global governance reform and assured the people about the economy, saying that the country has proactively responded to the impacts of the changing environment at home and abroad.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, in his New Year’s address on Tuesday, said China's economy has rebounded, with GDP projected to exceed 130 trillion yuan ($17.8 trillion). Regarding Taiwan, he asserted that "no one can stop the historic trend of national reunification.

BEIJING >> No one can stop China’s “reunification” with Taiwan, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his New Year’s speech today, laying down a clear warning to what Beijing regards as pro-independence forces within and outside of the island of 23 million people.

President Lai Ching-te urged the Taiwanese people to keep walking firmly on the path of democracy in his televised New Year address. Amid geopolitical tensions with China and a fractured legislature domestically,