China must be, will be reunified: Xi

China must be and will be reunified, President Xi Jinping said Wednesday.

A gathering to commemorate the 40th anniversary of issuing Message to Compatriots in Taiwan is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 2, 2019. [Photo: Xinhua/Pang Xinglei]

"It is a historical conclusion drawn over the 70 years of the development of cross-Strait relations, and a must for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in the new era," he said.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks Wednesday at a gathering to commemorate the 40th anniversary of issuing Message to Compatriots in Taiwan.

He called on Chinese people across the Taiwan Strait as well as at home and abroad to work together for the Chinese nation's greater good and go with the tide of history, to jointly push forward the peaceful development of the cross-Strait relations and advance the process toward the peaceful reunification of China.