Less than an hour before the premier spoke with Chinese and foreign journalists within the cavernous Great Hall of the People, built in 1959 at the height of excesses during the Great Leap Forward, NPC delegates in the main auditorium passed the anti-secession law by an overwhelming vote of 2,896 for, none against, and two abstentions.

The vote illustrates the extremely high level of nationalistic consensus on reunification with Taiwan as an issue of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The ballot did nothing to challenge the characterization of the country's legislative branch of government as a rubber stamp controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

The United States Congress in 1979 spelled out America's commitment to come to Taiwan's defense, should the mainland ever change the status quo by attacking it, with its Taiwan Relations Act.

It has taken China's top legislature, officially hailed as the "highest organ of state power," 25 years since the Americans spelled out their policy to codify under the rule of law its intentions toward Taiwan, including events that would necessitate the use of force.

Analysts have long viewed Taiwan as one of the issues the government might use to create a crisis to divert attention away from a wide range of disruptive domestic flashpoints.

Today's China is attempting to deepen reform in areas impinging upon the vested interests of lower level ruling elites, as well as taking on the daunting task of redressing social and economic inequities.

There are domed enclaves of opportunity and uneven prosperity in China's u rban areas, mainly provincial capitals and cities along the country's Pacific Ocean littoral.

Dismal conditions, slow development and corrupt or incompetent officials afflict the majority of 900 million Chinese residents registered as rural citizens in inland provinces and the country's hinterland.

Expert historians can debate plausible positions concerning Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan, but the leaders in Beijing consider the separation of the island from the mainland to be the final unresolved black spot in the history of China's bullying by foreign forces in the 19th and 20th centuries.

For more than 50 years, schoolchildren have been taught that Taiwan belongs to the People's Republic of China.

At a press conference Monday, reporters representing Taiwanese and U.S. news agencies questioned Wen Jiabao about the anti-secession law. A Taiwanese reporter asked Wen about the prospects for continued exchanges across t he Taiwan Strait following the enactment of the legislation.

After extending good wishes to the 23 million residents living on the island the mainland considers a breakaway province, Wen said the anti-secession law was "not directed against the Taiwan people, nor was it a war bill."

The premier reiterated China's desire for direct links with the island and said that scientific, technical and cultural exchanges should continue. He also promised that the rights and interests of business people from Taiwan would be protected on the mainland.

"The law aims at checking and opposing Taiwan independence secessionist forces. Only then can we maintain peace in the cross-straits region," Wen noted.

Wen said that President Hu Jintao's remarks at the start of the NPC formed China's policy on Taiwan. Hu completed his rise to power during this congress when senior leader Jiang Zemin relinquished his last official post as chairman of the State Central Military Commission.

Hu undeniably calls the shots in China now; he is Communist Party chairman, state president, and chairman of the party and state military commission bodies, making him commander-in-chief.

Wen told the Taiwan reporter that China has three short-term goals with regard to the island: permanent cross-straits air flights, increased sales of agricultural products from southern Taiwan on the mainland, and resolving the issue of mainland fishermen working for Taiwanese fleets.

Later Wen took a question from a U.S.-based news agency that asked for an amplification of what China meant by the phrase "non-peaceful means" with regard to Taiwan, and how it felt ready to "win any war" it would fight.

Wen reiterated that the 10-article law is not targeted against Taiwan compatriots, but aims to oppose and check Taiwan independence secessionist activities.

"It is not a law of war, but one for the peaceful reunification of the motherland. ... It's not a law intended to change the status quo that both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to one China, but one conducive to peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits," he said.

The premier said the Taiwan issue is left over from China's civil war, which ended in 1949. He stressed, "Although the mainland and Taiwan are yet to be reunified, that does not change the fact there is only one China in the world."

Under the anti-secession law, Wen said, "China will use non-peaceful means and other necessary measures" to stop Taiwan's secession only if all efforts for a peaceful reunification prove futile.

The premier promised that China is unwilling to see such circumstances arise. "So long as there is a glimmer of hope for peaceful reunification, we will exert our utmost to make it happen rather than give it u p," Wen said.

The purpose of making such a law, Wen said, is to demonstrate "the common will and strong resolve of the entire Chinese people, including our 23 million Taiwan compatriots, to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and never to allow independence forces to have Taiwan secede from China."

Wen cited two U.S. laws against secession made in 1861 during the American Civil War, saying their content is similar to what China made law on Monday.

On the issue of winning any war it fought, Wen said China "exercises a defense-oriented policy and its national defense expenditure cannot compare with that of the United States."

Wen noted, "I want to clarify that over the past hundred years, China has always been bullied by others." He added, "We have never sent a single soldier to occupy even an inch of foreign land."

Wen Jiabao said, "China will never allow any foreign interference with the Taiwan issue, and it is not afraid of any such interference should it occur."

The remark drew enthusiastic applause from Chinese journalists and officials.

Hu Jintao signed a presidential order for the immediate promulgation of the law at Monday's final session of the NPC.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will have much to discuss when she comes to Beijing a week from now.

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