BEIJING, Mar. 16 -- China said yesterday that its anti-secession law had been misunderstood by the United States.

"They don't fully understand the significance of this law," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

"We reiterate that this law is a law for peace," Liu said. "It's conducive for maintaining cross-strait relations and the stability of the Asia-Pacific region and the growth of relations between China, Europe, the United States and other countries."

"If they realize that, they will not have other opinions on such a law," he added.

Washington on Monday said the law "does not serve the cause of peace and stability" in the region.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the law "runs counter to recent progress in cross-strait relations."

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said it "only serves to harden positions."

Liu also said that while the cross-strait situation is of interest to many countries, Taiwan is the internal affair of China.

A spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council yesterday criticized the island's Mainland Affairs Council for its distortion of the Anti-Secession Law.

The spokesman said the MAC aimed to deceive Taiwan compatriots and international opinion by distorting the law as a move to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and provide "a blank check" for "annexation of Taiwan" by force in a statement it issued on Monday.

It is dangerous for the MAC to try to once again incite confrontation across the Taiwan Strait and create a pretext for "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces to provoke incidents, the spokesman said.

China's parliament voted unanimously with two abstentions on Monday to enact the law, which aims to improve the cross-strait relations, promote peaceful reunification of the motherland, and oppose and check "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces' attempts to secede Taiwan from China, he said.

The law aims to maintain the peace and stability across the strait, safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, he added.

The employment of non-peaceful means to prevent Taiwan's secession from the motherland, which is prescribed in the law as the last resort, targets "Taiwan independence" secessionists but never Taiwan compatriots, he said.

"We reiterate that we will never stop our efforts to improve cross-strait relations, never change our determination to strive for a peaceful reunification of the country, and never waver in our stance against 'Taiwan independence'," he said.

The spokesman urged Taiwan authorities to stop their secessionist attempts right away, return to the "1992 Consensus" on the one-China principle, and do things favorable to the peaceful and steady development of cross-strait relations.

(Xinhua/Agencies)