Former AIT head urges actions against China's Anti-Secession Law

Washington, Oct. 15 (CNA) James Moriarty, the former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), on Tuesday emphasized the urgent need to establish an effective deterrent against China's 2005 Anti-Secession Law, calling it "a ticking time bomb."

The law provides Beijing with a basis to justify the use of force against Taiwan and is therefore "horrible," Moriarty told a seminar in Washington, co-hosted by the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Taiwan's Prospect Foundation.

Under the Anti-Secession Law, Beijing reiterated the core elements of its Taiwan policy and red lines, including outlining the circumstances under which Beijing would consider employing "nonpeaceful means" to unify Taiwan.

The law was passed in 2005 by the People's Republic of China during the administration of then-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), following actions he took that Beijing deemed provocative.

Moriarty said that while the law was introduced when "we were genuinely worried about Taiwan trying to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait," the context has tremendously changed.

The former AIT chair described the movement toward independence as having largely faded in Taiwan, despite the DPP holding the presidency for a third consecutive term.

Conversely, Moriarty said that he did not foresee any signs of Taiwan unifying with China without coercion in the near future.

"We do have to do a better job pushing back against the Anti-Secession Law, the concept that China can use force whenever it decides that it has to, because peaceful unification isn't going to work," he said.

The action is necessary because Chinese President Xi Jinping's (習近平) one-man rule has rendered his country highly unpredictable, with Xi being less hesitant than his predecessors to force the Taiwan issue, Moriarty said.

"The only thing we can do under these conditions, and I'm going to leave you here with a very strong message... we need to build as effective a deterrent as possible, as quickly as possible," Moriarty said.