Zhang Lianqi, a top political adviser to the Chinese Communist Party, recently proposed the party create a law that would punish any Chinese citizen for violating his or her “responsibility to promote reunification,” referring to Beijing’s repeated threats to “reunify” the independent nation of Taiwan with China, the South China Morning Post reported Wednesday.
“Zhang Lianqi, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, said that while the existing Anti-Secession Law played an important role in both curbing attempts at Taiwan independence and promoting the peaceful reunification of the motherland, a new law was needed,” according to the Hong Kong-based newspaper.
Zhang submitted a formal proposal for a “reunification” law in recent days during the annual session of China’s National People’s Congress, which is the rubber-stamp legislature of China’s ruling Communist Party. The legislature’s annual seven-day session includes meetings of the Communist Party’s top political advisory bodies, such as the CPPCC.
Zhang spoke to China’s state-run Global Times on March 4 — the day before the annual session of the National People’s Congress launched — telling the newspaper of his plan to propose a “reunification” law during the event. The CPPCC member said the legislation was “necessary” as political forces in Taiwan were allegedly “colluding” with the U.S. government to “seek independence,” an action currently deemed illegal by China’s Anti-Secession Law.
A man wearing a mask holds a Taiwanese flag as he joins others at a rally to mark Taiwan’s National Day, in the Tsim Sha Tsui district in Hong Kong on October 10, 2019. (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
The Global Times paraphrased the Communist Party adviser’s statements, writing:
Zhang said that to solve the Taiwan question and realize the complete reunification of the motherland is the historical task of the Communist Party of China and the common aspiration of all Chinese people. Under the current situation where the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities are colluding with the US to incite confrontation and seek independence, we must use law-based means to promote the reunification.
Concluding his thoughts on the Taiwan issue, Zhang told the Global Times directly, “Therefore, it is urgent, necessary and legitimate to formulate a law on the reunification of the motherland.”
The Chinese Communist Party considers Taiwan a “renegade” province of China and has repeatedly vowed to “reunify” Taiwan with China. Taiwan is an independent island nation located off China’s southeastern coast at the nexus of the South and East China Seas. The government of Taiwan is democratically elected and based on its own constitution. Beijing ignores Taipei’s hallmarks of sovereignty so that it may push an agenda of “reunification” with Taiwan.
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