Special report: NPC & CPPCC Annual Sessions 2005

                 ;China enacts Anti-Secession Law

    BEIJING, March 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The newly-enacted Anti-Secession Law shows the firm will of all Chinese people including Taiwan compatriots, said mainland experts on Taiwan issues here Tuesday.

    The Anti-Secession Law, ratified by the third session of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), reflects Chinese people's peaceful will and sincerity in handling Taiwan issue, aiming to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and curb "Taiwan independence," said Yu Keli, director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

    The meeting was co-hosted with the National Taiwan Studies Society (NTSS).

    "It is a law to promote relations across the Taiwan Strait and peaceful reunification of the motherland," Yu said.

    Seven out of the ten items of the law talked about peaceful means to solve the Taiwan issue, including five aspects to be "encouraged" and six topics that "can be discussed and negotiated",and how to protect the rights and interests of Taiwan people, saidProf. Huang Jiashu with the People's University of China.

    It displayed the true wish of the central government to improveexchanges between the two sides and its goodwill on Taiwan people's welfare, Huang said.

    "The law showed the strong will of the people," said Xu Shiquan,deputy president of the NTSS, at the meeting.

    The law is a preparation for a long-term battle against "Taiwan independence," whose followers have never stopped the attempt to split the island from the motherland, Xu said.

    Facts have showed that secession activities remained rampant inTaiwan and the relations across the Strait have not really eased. That's why the Anti-Secession Law is in urgent need, said Prof. Xu Bodong, director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies of Beijing Union University.

    The law, summing up the central government's policies on Taiwanissue in the past years, is a strategic and critical move to improve the relations and keep the long-term stability between thetwo sides, he said.

    To curb "Taiwan independence" in line with laws will be a special contribution China makes to the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region, said Guo Zhenyuan, expert with the Chinese Institute of International Studies.

    To prevent a war is to beat "Taiwan independence" moves, which are top threat to the peace and stability across the Strait. "From this perspective, the law is a peace law instead of a war law as someone claimed," Xu Shiquan said. Enditem