What’s new: President Xi Jinping raised the Anti-Secession Law while discussing Taiwan with his U.S. counterpart, telling Joe Biden that China will invoke the law and act resolutely if serious violations occur, the Chinese foreign minister said.
Xi said China will adhere to the basic principle of “One country, two systems” and strive for a peaceful reunification with the “greatest sincerity and effort,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi said Monday in a statement published online.
The Anti-Secession Law, implemented in 2005, stipulates in Article 8 that under serious circumstances, China will take “non-peaceful means and other necessary measures” to safeguard its territorial integrity.
Xi said the Taiwan issue is “a red line that the U.S. cannot and should not cross” and that China will act in accordance with the law if “the three serious circumstances stipulated in the Anti-Secession Law occur,” according to the statement.
The background: According to the law, the circumstances Xi mentioned refer to three events: a separatist group causing Taiwan to secede from China, a major event that entails separation to occur, or when all possibility of peaceful reunification has been exhausted
Sino-U.S. tensions over Taiwan have grown since U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in August despite Beijing’s strong objections.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editors Lu Zhenhua (zhenhualu@caixin.com) and Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
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