The Chinese government asserts that Taiwan is part of its territory and has as many as 700 missiles aimed at the island located 100 miles off the mainland's southeast coast. Taiwan's elected leaders insist it is an independent, sovereign country. The United States formally recognizes only the Chinese government, but it sells arms to Taiwan and has pledged to help defend the island of 23 million.
The Bush administration had urged China to abandon the anti-secession law and warned it could jeopardize the recent warming in relations between China and Taiwan.
The United States has also been pressuring the European Union to drop plans to end a 15-year-old arms embargo against China, arguing that weapons from Europe might be used against U.S. forces in a conflict over Taiwan. The E.U. has so far rejected the U.S. appeals, but European diplomats say heightened tensions in the strait caused by the anti-secession law could lead it to reconsider.
Chinese officials and scholars have debated adopting legislation on Taiwan for years. Some of the party's more hawkish members had urged a "reunification law" that set a deadline for the island to be returned to mainland rule. The anti-secession law includes no such deadline.
But analysts said the law could limit a Chinese leader's options in a crisis, as well as in talks with Taiwan on resolving a standoff dating to the 1949 Communist revolution. Its enactment represents a strong political commitment by Hu to risk a confrontation with the U.S. military and employ force if Taiwan goes too far in its efforts to achieve formal independence.
In one of the dangerous ambiguities of cross-strait relations, though, China has never specified how it defines formal independence, given that the island has already governed itself for more than a half-century, held several elections and established diplomatic relations with foreign countries.
Chen has been testing China's bottom line with proposals to rewrite Taiwan's constitution, remove the word "China" from the name of its overseas diplomatic offices and seek entry into international organizations.
Chinese officials said the anti-secession legislation was intended to deter Chen. Preparations to enact it began last year as his party appeared on the verge of taking control of Taiwan's parliament. But Chen scaled back his pro-independence campaign after his party failed to win a majority in the December elections.
Mainland officials responded with softer rhetoric, and tensions eased as the two sides agreed to allow nonstop charter flights between the mainland and Taiwan during last month's Lunar New Year holidays.
