Referring to China's move to enact an 'anti-secession law' that targets at Taiwan, we would like to emphasise that it will facilitate the separation of the Taiwan Straits and is tantamount to unilaterally changing the status quo of the Taiwan Straits.

This will have a severe and negative impact on relations across the Taiwan Straits as well as on the stability and security of the Asia-Pacific region.

Talking about the status quo of the Taiwan Straits, it is an established fact that each side of the Taiwan Straits has been governed separately. China also acknowledges that there is no unification across the Taiwan Straits.

However, China wants to declare the current status quo in the Taiwan Straits as 'unified' and not 'separate' by its 'anti-secession law'. This runs counter to the present cross-strait political reality of 'two separate and equal entities' and completely distorts the international community's understanding of the situation in the Taiwan Straits.

The enactment of the 'anti-secession law' by China intends to prevent other nations from protecting their own interests and would invariably make the Taiwan Strait an inland sea, which will affect the security and stability of entire Asian-Pacific region.

China's proposed 'anti-secession law' will also generate a new variable affecting economic exchanges between Taiwan and China, and will also create invisible barriers to members of the international community in their production and business activities across the Taiwan Straits. Such a development would go against the international economic rules.

In an opinion poll published recently in Taiwan, nearly 83 percent of Taiwanese polled expressed their opposition to the enactment of this 'anti-secession law' by the Chinese authorities. China's move will directly intensify separation and create tension in the Taiwan Straits.

It will severely setback cross-straits relations and completely destroy the basis for further exchanges and the resumption of dialogue between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits.

We urge that the other side of Taiwan Straits to - on the basis of goodwill - create an environment of peaceful development because this is the only way to ensure the welfare of the people in Taiwan and China, while fulfilling the expectations of international community.

The writer is the director of the information division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia.