CHINA'S anti-secession law spells out three scenarios that justify the use of force against Taiwan.

These include Taiwan taking actions ""to cause its secession from China'', major incidents entailing this result, and when all possible means of peace are exhausted.

Mr Wang Zhaoguo, vice-chairman of the National People's Congress, disclosed the contents of the law when he presented it to the Chinese parliament yesterday.

Compared with previous statements on the issue of force, the proposed law zeros in on activities leading to de jure independence of Taiwan.

Between 1980 and 2000, China officially spelt out four situations in which it would resort to using force against Taiwan: Taiwan declaring independence, being invaded by foreign countries, developing nuclear weapons, or trying to delay unification indefinitely.

The new law, however, focuses on de jure independence only.

The law also commits China to ""exhaust all possible means'' before resorting to force.

In this sense, it is more restrictive than previous statements on China's right to use force.

This somehow echoes one of the four points Chinese President Hu Jintao made on Taiwan recently that China ""will never give up striving for peace''.

In this sense, the law to a large extent is a defensive mechanism against separatism, not one to pro-actively achieve unification.

Significantly, it does not set any target date for achieving unification.

Another new point is that the law for the first time undertakes to protect the life and property of civilians and foreigners
resident in Taiwan so as to minimise losses should non-peaceful means be resorted to.

Previous statements had merely noted that force was not directed at ordinary people.

This contrasts sharply with the views of some hawkish military officials who had once publicly declared that China would not mind destroying Taiwan in order to preserve its territorial integrity.

The draft law also commits the Chinese government to protect Taiwanese investments in China. This will go a long way in relieving concerns that investors might be taken hostage if a war breaks out.

On foreign intervention, the law states clearly that the Taiwan issue is a hangover of China's civil war and its solution is
entirely China's internal affair.

""On this issue, we are not bound by any foreign intervention,'' said Mr Wang.

The main body of the law focuses on achieving unification peacefully.

In all previous statements, China's stock phrase when reaching out to the Taiwanese was that, under the ""one China'' principle, all issues could be discussed.

The Taiwanese, however, had found this phrase too vague.

So the draft law goes some way towards fleshing this out.

First, the unification process is itself negotiable and will be done at a pace and in a format acceptable to Taiwan. Any flexible mode of consultation could be considered.

Second, issues to be discussed include ending the state of war between the two sides, arrangements leading to peaceful unification, an appropriate relationship between the two parties on either side of the strait, the political status of the Taiwanese authority, Taiwan's status in the international community, as well as any problem related to unification.

A source pointed out that this last phrase indicates that Beijing is willing to consider other formats of unification proposed by the Taiwanese side, as long as it is consistent with the ""one China'' principle.

Citing an authority on the law, Ta Kung Pao, a pro-Beijing newspaper in Hong Kong, said that the law tries to maintain a
balance between China's iron will on preventing secession and its tolerance for achieving unification peacefully.

The much-anticipated law tabled yesterday was thus not as belligerent as some had feared.