A group of US congressmen jointly introduced a resolution on Monday urging President George W. Bush to voice grave concern on the adoption of the "Anti-Secession Law" by Beijing earlier that day.
The resolution, initiated by Henry Hyde, chairman of the International Relations Committee under the House of Representatives, asks Bush to express the US government's opposition to the law and its worry that the law might unilaterally change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait by non-peaceful means on Beijing's part.
The resolution puts forward the following four key points:
1. China's Anti-Secession Law provides a legal justification for the use of force against Taiwan, altering the status quo in the region and thus posing grave concern to the US;
2. the president should direct all appropriate US government officials to reflect the grave concern with which the US views the adoption of the Anti-Secession Law in particular, and the growing Chinese military threat to Taiwan in general, to their counterpart officials in the government of the People's Republic of China;
3. the government of the US should reaffirm its policy that the future of Taiwan should be resolved by peaceful means and with the consent of the people of Taiwan; and
4. the government of the US should continue to encourage dialogue between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China.
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