Beijing's proposed "anti-secession" law is a blank check written out to the Chinese military, according to the Mainland Affairs Council.
Speaking at a forum yesterday, council Vice Chairman David Huang (黃偉峰) warned that the law could destroy regional peace and stability and make violence across the Taiwan Strait a legal obligation.
"From what we know about the law -- that it targets Taiwan and allows for non-peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue -- the law is a blank check written out to the People's Liberation Army," Huang said.
"Attacking Taiwan is a political problem right now, but once it is codified in law, it could be a mandatory legal stipulation," he said, adding the legalization of policy often results in the loss of flexibility.
Despite the council's efforts to stave off the bill's passage through international intervention, approval of the law seems unavoidable.
Beijing's top advisory body, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), convened yesterday, and the National People's Congress opens tomorrow.
The "anti-secession" law is due to be explained by party leaders on Tuesday before it is put to vote on March 14.
When asked what sort of measures the government is prepared to take to counter Beijing's legislation, Huang refused to comment, saying the timing was not right.
"The game that Beijing is playing is a pre-emptive one. They're making clear their bottom line -- a red line. If Taiwan were to respond with its own pre-emptive measures and draw its own red line, then we would be restricted -- tensions would intensify," Huang said.
"Our best strategy would be to initiate another game," he said. "A small country loses out when it tries to play tit for tat."
He said that the government would be taking a wait-and-see attitude to Beijing's legislation and that it was prepared to respond to various possible situations.
Beijing continues to insist that the law will bring about regional peace and stability. The Xinhua New Agency quoted Wu Jianmin (
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
RSS