Anti-Secession Law: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:05, 14 March 2005

Revision as of 13:59, 14 March 2005

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The proposed '''National Unification Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China''' ([[Chinese language|Chinese]]: 中华人民共和国国家统一促进法) is a document that appeared in early [[2004]] as a suggestion to create formal legal basis for the [[People's Republic of China]]'s unification with [[Taiwan]]. It was authored by a Chinese scholar Yu Yuanzhou (余元洲), a professor from the [[Jianghan University]] in [[Wuhan]] who does not have any formal governmental position. Although no formal legislative action has been taken on the document, this fact that such a law is up for debate is viewed by many in Taiwan as evidence of hostile intent on the part of the PRC. The law will not be applied to [[Hong Kong]] and [[Macao]], as they are independent juducial entities having their own judicial systems.

Although Taiwan has never been under PRC control, the PRC government considers [[Taiwan]] to be the 23rd province of the People's Republic of China. According to the PRC arguementargument, the government of the [[Republic of China]] ceased to be legitimate following its retreat to Taiwan in 1949, and thus all soveregnty and governmental authority in China was automatically transferred to the PRC, including that of Taiwan which was then under ROC administration. The official ROC line counters that it did not cease to exist in 1949 and has continued to function as a soverign political entity on Taiwan to the present day, making the relation between the PRC and ROC similar to that between other states similarly partitioned (such as [[North Korea]] and [[South Korea]]). For more information, see [[Political status of Taiwan]]. The PRC's position has been acknowledged by most other nations but not formally recognized, as most nations prefer to take an ambiguous approach on the issue.

Since 1949, the PRC government has demanded that Taiwan unify under the PRC, and has reserved the right to use military force to compel Taiwan to do so if necessary. However, opinion polls conducted in Taiwan have indicated that there is very little support for unification on the PRC's terms, even among those who favor eventual unification, making peaceful unification unlikely for the forseeable future. With the reelection of [[Chen Shui-bian]] to the ROC Presidency, and the growth of [[Taiwan independence]] sentiment, a new Taiwanese identity appears to be emerging on the island as opposed to identification with China.