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The United States has pledged to defend Taiwan if the mainland attacks, and China would risk derailing its trade-dependent economic growth if it launched an attack.

"This is a step the people have been demanding for many years," says Yu Keli, a Taiwan expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. "There can be no ambiguity that China will fight Taiwanese independence no matter what."

China's Army May Respond if Taiwan Fully Secedes
By JOSEPH KAHN

BEIJING, Dec. 17 - The Communist Party-controlled legislature has indicated that it is preparing to enact a law against secession, possibly mandating military action if Taiwan were to declare independence.

A draft law forbidding secession by any part of China, announced Friday by the New China News Agency, suggests that President Hu Jintao is seeking to eliminate any lingering doubts that the Chinese military would attack Taiwan if the island formally severed ties with the mainland.

China's top leaders have said consistently that they would wage war against Taiwan if it were to declare itself an independent state, so the passage of such a law basically reiterates existing policy.

But outlawing secession may be an attempt to counter skepticism in Taiwan that China would really start a war it might not win.