Chinese leader Xi Jinping is ringing in the New Year by vowing to oversee the “reunification” – by force if necessary -- of the People's Republic of China with Taiwan, which split from mainland China in 1949 after ending up on the losing side of a civil war. 

Chinese leaders have long bristled at Tawain’s independence from its grip and have eyed bringing it back into the fold. In a Sunday speech, Xi promised that Taiwan’s freedom will soon come to an end:

"All Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should be bound by a common sense of purpose and share in the glory of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," Xi said in Sunday's address.

"The motherland will surely be reunified," he added.

This is not the first time in recent days that Xi has ramped up his rhetoric regarding the situation:

The speech was the second time in a matter of days that Xi addressed the Taiwan issue. Xi also vowed to reunify Taiwan on Tuesday during a symposium in Beijing commemorating the 130th anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong, the founding father of Communist China.

"The complete reunification of the motherland is an irresistible trend," Xi said at the event, adding that China would "resolutely prevent anyone from splitting" the two sides.

It's hardly surprising that Xi would pick this time to indicate his plans, seeing that the United States has a weak president who is constantly on vacation and whose approval levels are below basement-level. Meanwhile, our military is preoccupied with woke concerns instead of battlefield readiness, and our forces and munitions are stretched thin as we bankroll Ukraine in its war against Russia and tensions over the Israel-Hamas war run high. 

Meanwhile, recruiting numbers for our armed forces are disastrous, and in 2024, we will field our smallest military in over 80 years.

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Taiwan will hold elections on January 13, and the CCP has made it clear they consider the presidential front-runner to be a threat:

Beijing considers the presidential front-runner, William Lai, who currently serves as vice president from the ruling Democratic People’s Party, a “separatist” and has accused him and Taiwan‘s President Tsai Ing-wen of trying to provoke a Chinese attack on the island.

On Saturday, Chen Binhua, spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, called Lai a “destroyer of peace” following a televised debate earlier that day in which Lai defended Taiwan’s right to rule itself as a democracy.

Chen said Lai’s discourse at the debate was “full of confrontational thinking,” adding that the vice president is “the instigator of a potential dangerous war in the Taiwan Strait.”

There's a good chance that if Lai wins, China and Xi will consider it a "provocation" and use it as a justification for taking over the country. 

President Biden has shown weakness throughout his presidency, and many wonder whether Putin would have invaded Ukraine were someone stronger in office. It would appear that Xi also smells blood in the water and is merely waiting for the optimum moment to capitalize.