When Premier Wen Jiabao met overseas Chinese in London this month, one man suggested that the National People's Congress should adopt a reunification law to prevent Taiwan moving towards independence. 'We will seriously consider it,' Mr Wen said.
Ever since then, there has been speculation about what the contents of such a reunification law (or simply a unification law) would include. Presumably, it would provide Beijing with legal grounds for attacking Taiwan if it should ever proclaim independence. But there are many other questions, such as whether it would impose a deadline for reunification, after which force would be used. Of special interest to Hong Kong is whether such a law would apply here, and whether critical speech might be criminalised.
No doubt, it is far too early to speculate. A central government spokesman in Hong Kong has said it has not launched a process for establishing such a law. However, the idea is intriguing. If such a law was enacted, it would certainly have an impact on tensions between Taiwan and the mainland. For example, if a deadline for reunification was imposed, it would raise tensions and compel America to fortify Taiwan by selling it the kind of weapons that it has so far refused to provide.
There is, in fact, a draft reunification law, prepared by Yu Yuanzhou, of Wuhan University, in November 2002. Interestingly, it calls Taiwan a special political region, not a special administrative region.
Even more interesting, after asserting that Taiwan 'is a special area of the People's Republic of China', it goes on to say that before reunification, people who recognise 'the Republic of China' are 'permitted to regard the mainland area' as a special political area of 'the Republic of China'.
While Beijing has always insisted that China is a unitary state, this draft law terms the country formed by the union of Taiwan and the mainland a 'Federated Republic of China'. This means, in effect, that Beijing recognises the sovereignty of Taiwan. Such a suggestion will certainly be more palatable to Taiwan than the 'one country, two systems' formula, which would render Taiwan no more than a special administrative region. A Federated Republic of China, on the other hand, would treat Taiwan and the mainland as equal components of a new federation.
