15th anniversary of Anti-Secession Law marked

Experts call for more legislation against foreign meddling

Senior officials reiterated the Chinese mainland’s stance to oppose separatists in Taiwan island and promote the peaceful reunification of the country at a symposium, which was held in Beijing on Friday to mark the 15th anniversary of the implementation of the Anti-Secession Law. The event was held a day after China’s top legislature overwhelmingly passed the national security legislation for its Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

Experts said that against the backdrop of the passage of a national security law for Hong Kong, referring back to the Anti-Secession Law passed in 2005 reflects the changing challenges China has faced in the past 15 years – from fighting against separatists in Taiwan to safeguarding sovereignty amid increasing interference from the West led by the US on affairs in China’s Tibet, Xinjiang, HKSAR and Taiwan. They also called for perfecting the law systems to protect national systems and stronger countermeasures to sanction active figures of anti-China and overseas separatist groups.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) of China, said at the symposium that separatists in Taiwan island have miscalculated the situation for a while, kept making provocations and harmed the interests of the people

across the Straits and national interests, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Seeking independence for Taiwan island is a dead end, and whoever violates the law would be severely punished, Li said.

On March 14, 2005, the 3rd session of the 10th National People’s Congress passed the AntiSecession Law with 2,896 affirmative votes, zero vetoes and two abstentions.

The mainland found that a red line must be drawn to warn the DPP authority and respond to the furious public opinion and desire among the Chinese people worldwide to punish separatism, said Lü Xiang, a research fellow on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in Beijing.

In recent years, the US and separatist ruling DPP and Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen have had more close ties and made concrete moves to push for Taiwan’s independence. The US is breaking the previous balance and this is why the mainland is restressing the Anti-Secession Law and the red line – to remind them to behave, said Li Xiaobing, a Hong Kong and Taiwan affairs expert at Nankai University in Tianjin.

Colluding of separatists

It has been 15 years since the enacting of the Anti-Secession Law, and China is facing different domestic and external environment with more multilateral and complicated threats and foreign interference, especially from the US, said Wang Jiang, an expert on law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Despite China’s utmost efforts in safeguarding national security, anti-China forces never give up attempt to infiltrate into China and overturn the Chinese government. Experts said the US and the West are also using overseas separatists from China’s Xinjiang, Tibet, Taiwan island and HKSAR as lever with the delusion to have a breach of China’s national security.

Considering the strained China-US ties and US’ escalating provocations over China’s national security, more measures should be taken by China, including completing the law systems on national security and making reciprocal measures to sanction overseas separatists and anti-China individuals, experts said.

Compared with multiple US laws on national security based on hurting other countries’ interests and aimed at maintaining its hegemony, China’s laws are aimed at protecting its national security, Li Wei, a counter-terrorism expert at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing, told the Global Times.

More regulations on protecting national security should be implemented, including managing overseas organizations’ behavior in China, freezing the assets of anti-China individuals and companies, and banning certain figures from entering China, Li said.

China should make more detailed laws by extending the experience of the Anti-Secession Law. The national security law for Hong Kong is a good signal as China has paid more attention to fixing loopholes on national security legislation, and makes precautionary measures for threats, experts said.

Wang Jiang said more laws would be made under the guidance of the overall national security concept to enrich our legal basis and “tool kits” to stem foreign interference.