Reaction
Beijing claims that this bill is the PRC's most sincere attempt at resolving the Taiwan issue peacefully (see Political status of Taiwan). However, Taipei points to Article 8 as cause for concern. Shortly after the bill was passed, the ROC President Chen Shui-bian called for a National Security meeting in Taipei to discuss the issue.
One major topic of controversy between Beijing and Taipei is to what degree the law changes the status quo in the Taiwan straits. Beijing has maintained that the law preserves the status quo and creates no new conditions for the use of force. In contrast, Taipei has argued that the law does change the status quo and gave the People's Liberation Army a "blank check" to attack Taiwan.
Prior to the passage of the bill, a statement from Taipei's Mainland Affairs Council and a resolution overwhelming passed by the ROC legislature stated that the status quo is that the Republic of China is sovereign and independent. The statement and resolution were carefully worded to avoid disagreements between the pan-blue and pan-green coalition over whether the Republic of China has any residual sovereignty over Mainland China.
After the law was passed, the Mainland Affairs Council official referred to Beijing's definition of "one China" in the PRC law as fiction. Most of the statements from Taiwan were carefully worded to prevent escalation of already tense cross strait relations.
Read more about this topic: Anti-Secession Law
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