China enacts law to stop Taiwan's independence

Legislators from the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) burn a Chinese flag outside the parliament building to protest against the anti-secession law in Taipei yesterday. China's parliament passed a law yesterday giving its military the legal basis to attack Taiwan if it moves towards independence, a day after China's President Hu Jintao told the army to prepare for war. PHOTO: AFP

Of the deputies sitting at yesterday's closing session at the Great Hall of the People, 2,896 deputies voted for the law, with no objections and only two abstentions.

Chinese President Hu Jintao has signed his name on the bill on March 14, 2005, and the law comes into immediate effect.

Using non-peaceful means to stop secession would be the last resort, when all efforts for a peaceful reunification should prove futile, the law says.

The act provides that in the event that the "Taiwan independence" forces should act under any name or by any means to cause the fact of Taiwan's secession from China, or that major incidents entailing Taiwan's secession from China should occur, or that possibilities for a peaceful reunification should be completely exhausted, the state shall employ non-peaceful means and other necessary measures to protect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, says the law.

Prior to the deliberation of the draft law, Chinese President Hu Jintao, also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Communist Party of China, set forth his four-point guidelines for cross-Straits relations on March 4, stating that the Chinese people will do their best to seek peaceful reunification of the motherland but will never tolerate "Taiwan independence".

"We will continue to make our greatest efforts with the utmost sincerity to seek the prospects of peaceful reunification. Meanwhile, we will never tolerate 'Taiwan independence' and never allow the 'Taiwan independence' secessionist forces to make Taiwan secede from the motherland under any name or by any means," said Hu.

Evidence has shown that the "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces and their activities are increasingly becoming the "biggest obstacle for the development of cross-Straits relations" and the "biggest real threat to peace and stability in the region around the Taiwan Straits", the president said.

Hu urged the "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces to abandon their secessionist stand and stop all "Taiwan independence" activities, saying that "we hope the leader of the Taiwan authorities could earnestly fulfill the 'five no's' commitment he reaffirmed on Feb. 24, as well as his commitment of not seeking ' legalization of Taiwan independence' through the 'Constitutional reform'."

"(We hope that he could) show to the world, through (his) own concrete action, that this was not an empty word or mere lip service which can be forsaken at will," Hu added.

AFP adds: Taiwan condemned China's anti-secession law passed yesterday as an authorisation for war against the island, while furious lawmakers torched a Chinese flag and vowed to rally one million people to protest.

"The law is tantamount to authorization of war... as the law's essence is allowing adoption of 'non-peaceful' means against the island if necessary," cabinet spokesman Cho Jung-tai told reporters.

"All people in Taiwan are against the legislation, and we believe the world community also opposes it," Cho said shortly after the legislation was passed by an overwhelming majority in Beijing.