Saturday, March 5 2005 13:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao today (Mar 5, 2005) asserted that China will never allow Taiwan's independence, stressing that the proposed anti-secession law represented "the common will and strong determination" of 1.3 billion Chinese people who longed for a peaceful reunification of the motherland.

"This law represents the common will and strong determination of the entire Chinese people to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and never allow secessionist forces working for Taiwan independence to separate Taiwan from China under any name or by any means," Wen said.

In a nationally televised state-of-the-nation address to the National People's Congress (NPC), the Chinese parliament, which opened its 10-day session in Beijing at the cavernous Great Hall of the People, Wen said that his Government would continue working to restore consultation and negotiation between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits under the 'one-China' principle and on the basis of equality.

"We will adhere to the basic principals of peaceful reunification and 'one country, two systems' ... To promote peaceful reunification of the motherland, safeguard peace in the Taiwan Straits and facilitate steady development of cross-Straits relations."

China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since the end of the country's civil war in 1949, when the defeated Nationalists fled to the Island. Beijing has repeatedly threatened to attack the self-governing Island of 23 million people if it formally declares independence.