The Chinese mainland will resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and fight against separatism and foreign interference in the Taiwan question in the new year, a senior official said.

Song Tao, head of both the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks in a New Year's message published in this year's first issue of the Relations Across Taiwan Straits magazine.

"Resolving the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese, and any attempt to separate Taiwan from China will never succeed," Song said.

In the past year, the mainland made major efforts to fight separatism and interference and resolutely contained provocative acts made by separatist forces seeking "Taiwan independence", he noted in the article.

Efforts were also made to counter US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in August and to effectively deter external forces from using the island to contain the mainland, he added.

For Taiwan residents, peace, stability and development are vital. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party has acted against the people's wishes, which is why the party lost local elections on the island in November, Song noted.

He said the election results also showed that "resisting the mainland to protect Taiwan" is unpopular among the island's people, and relying on foreign countries to seek "independence" is doomed to fail.

Song said more Taiwan compatriots have realized that the reunification of the two sides is the general trend, and peaceful reunification is in the best interest of compatriots on both sides and the entire nation.

"As long as compatriots from the two sides work together, they can resolve this family matter," he said, calling on people on both sides to jointly promote peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits.