Anti-Secession Law

The Anti-Secession Law (反分裂国家法, Fǎn Fēnliè Guójiā Fǎ) was adopted by the Third Session of the Tenth National People's Congress on 14 March 2005, passing by a vote of 2,896 to 0 with two abstentions, and signed into force the same day by President Hu Jintao. Comprising ten articles, it codified the People's Republic of China's long-standing "one China" principle into domestic law, declaring in Article 2 that "there is only one China in the world" and that "both the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China." The law's constitutional anchor lies in the PRC Constitution's Preamble, which describes Taiwan as "part of the sacred territory of the People's Republic of China," and in the state's asserted sovereign right to defend territorial integrity. It marked the first time Beijing translated its Taiwan policy from political doctrine into binding legislation.

The operative core is Article 8, which authorizes the state to "employ non-peaceful means and other necessary measures" under three triggering conditions: if "Taiwan independence" forces cause Taiwan's secession from China under any name or by any means; if a major incident entailing Taiwan's secession occurs; or if possibilities for peaceful reunification are "completely exhausted." The decision to use such means rests with the State Council and Central Military Commission, which must report to the NPC Standing Committee. Article 5 simultaneously affirms peaceful reunification as the preferred path and proposes the "one country, two systems" framework, while Articles 6 and 7 commit to cross-strait economic, cultural, and personnel exchanges and equal negotiations. The law thus pairs a deterrent threat with an offer of accommodation — a deliberate "carrot and stick" architecture.

The 2005 law was a response to perceived moves toward de jure independence under Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party, including referendum proposals and constitutional-revision rhetoric. It drew sharp protest in Taiwan, where roughly a million people demonstrated in Taipei on 26 March 2005, and concern in Washington, which reaffirmed the Taiwan Relations Act (1979) and its "strategic ambiguity." As of 2026 the law remains in force and is routinely invoked by Beijing to frame major-power tensions, especially after the August 2022 visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei and amid the DPP administration of President Lai Ching-te. It underpins China's rejection of the "1992 Consensus" being abandoned and provides the legal pretext cited in PLA exercises encircling Taiwan.

For exam purposes, the Anti-Secession Law appears in international-relations and current-affairs sections — UPSC GS Paper II (international relations, India's neighbourhood and major powers), the FSOT and China Guokao foreign-policy modules, and CSS/BCS international-relations papers. Typical question angles ask candidates to identify the year (2005), the body that enacted it (NPC), the significance of Article 8's "non-peaceful means," and how the law interacts with the US Taiwan Relations Act and the "one China" policy. Comparative questions may contrast it with Hong Kong's National Security Law (2020) as instruments of PRC sovereignty doctrine.