Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian and hundreds of thousands of people have held a street protest in Taipei against China's anti-secession law which was passed earlier this month.
The law allows China, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province, to use what it calls non-peaceful means against any move by Taiwan towards independence.
The protest saw demonstrators march down 10 major streets in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, before gathering for a rally in the presidential square outside Chen’s office.
Protestors wore green headbands saying ‘Democracy, Peace, Protect Taiwan’, held banners with ‘Say Yes to Taiwan, No to China’, and shouted ‘Love Peace, Oppose War’.
Chen said he was participating in the demo to ‘shout aloud to the other side that we want democracy, we want peace and we are against war’.
Taiwan has been ruled as a de facto independent state since 1949, but China continues to consider part of its territory that must be brought back under its control at some point.
