CHINA - TAIWAN - UNITED STATES Beijing anti-secession law and Taiwan anti-annexation bill

Story dated 24 February 2005

As you may or may not be aware, the People's Republic of China (PRC) claims Taiwan as their own territory. This comes as a surprise to most of us since the PRC has never had political or military control of Taiwan. In fact, the Republican government of Taiwan predates the PRC by a number of years, being the last outpost of the Republic of China, founded early in the twentieth century. Beijing has gotten the idea that it would be cool to enact an anti-secession law that would make it illegal for any territory claimed by the PRC to formally declare its independence. This law affects Taiwan, and territory that has belonged to Japan since the 19th century. Well, Taiwan's pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union is proposing an 'anti-annexation' legislation. This ought to be fun -- especially since we have to, by law, come to Taiwan's rescue if things go wrong and the PRC tries to crush them militarily (as they've very publicly threatened to do).

posted by The Sovereign Editor | 10:05 AM

_____________________________________________