Cross-straits relations may worsen if secessionist forces in
Taiwan challenge the newly passed Anti-Secession Law, top mainland
researchers warned on Thursday.
They cautioned the Taiwan leadership against the provocative
remarks and actions that are anticipated at this weekend's planned
Anti-Secession Law protest on the island.
Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian, from the pro-secession Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP), confirmed yesterday that he and his family
will be taking part in Saturday's march.
Chen called for 1 million people to join the DPP-organized
protest.
Wang Baofu, deputy director of the Institute for Strategic
Studies at the National Defense University of the People's
Liberation Army, said he is concerned that secessionist forces are
taking advantage of the march to fan hatred and anti-mainland
sentiment among the Taiwan public.
"It cannot be ruled out that a handful of diehard secessionists
may take desperate moves to challenge the Anti-Secession Law," he
said at a meeting of the Cross-straits Relations Research Center in
Beijing. "They may distort the law to incite confrontation across
the Taiwan Straits and poison bilateral ties."
The National People's Congress, China's top legislature, passed
the 10-article Anti-Secession Law on March 14 to check the
intensification of secessionist activities on the island.
While promoting peaceful reunification of Taiwan and the
mainland, the law stipulates that non-peaceful means and other
necessary measures would be employed as a last resort should all
efforts for peaceful national reunification fail.
Wang noted that the new legislation has effectively reduced
maneuvering room for secessionists and may lead to a backlash from
them.
Chen has described the Anti-Secession Law as "a law of
aggression," while the DPP and its ally the Taiwan Solidarity Union
have portrayed the bill as "a war mobilization order" that
authorizes an attack against the island at any time.
Liu Guoshen, president of the Taiwan Research Academy at Xiamen
University, said the demonization of the Anti-Secession Law
reflects the secessionists' fear of the legislation.
"They are apparently attempting to deceive and mislead the
public by cooking up an immediate military threat from the law," he
said. "In fact, secessionist forces on the island know they
themselves and their secessionist activities are the only target of
the Anti-Secession Law."
Given Taipei's responses, Liu predicted a short-term worsening
and even the danger of recession in cross-straits ties.
Possible retaliatory policies from the Taiwan authorities
following Saturday's rally could aggravate the situation. The DPP
has threatened to suspend economic and trade exchanges between
Taiwan and the mainland in the wake of the passage of the
Anti-Secession Law.
(China Daily March 25, 2005)