More than 60 women's groups in Hong Kong welcomed the Anti-Secession Law because it was an unprecedented step, showing the central government's determination to preserve national unity.

Presiding over a seminar of women's organizations of the SAR, National People's Congress Standing Committee member Maria Tam Wai-chu said the passing of the Anti-Secession Law was a historic and emotional moment for the Chinese people.

"Attending the 13th NPC Standing Committee meeting, I saw the hearts of millions of Chinese people beating together; it was a moving sight. It demonstrated our leaders' resolve to achieve peaceful reunification," she said.

Since the end of World War II, "there is no internationally recognised partition dividing the Chinese mainland and Taiwan like that of North and South Korea, and the mainland and Taiwan both claiming Chinese sovereignty constituted an overlapping of Chinese identity," she said.

The Anti-Secession Law is a necessary legal measure to put secessionists in check, Tam said. "This is a bill aimed at preventing secession, but not to forcibly reunify Taiwan with military or other means. It is defensive and precautionary in nature, and not hostile as some tend to see it."

"We can see the sincerity of the central government in Premier Wen Jiabao's promise that 'even if there is the slightest chance of peaceful reunification, we will strive to achieve it with a hundred times (greater) effort'," she said.

Tam stressed that to push forward the reunification process, China must win the hearts and minds of the Taiwanese people, and the Anti-Secession Law has provided a strong legal basis for that. "We must win the hearts and confidence of the masses in Taiwan, and show them there are benefits in reunification with China," she added.

(China Daily HK Edition March 22, 2005)