New York, July 29, SPA -- China firmly defended its right to use force as a last resort to prevent Taiwan's independence, telling the U.N. General Assembly on Friday that no country "can tolerate secession," dpa reported. China took the unusual step of explaining the Anti-Secession Law, adopted in March, to the assembly. Taiwan and a several small nations that have diplomatic relations with Taipei have protested the law. Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said in a document to the General Assembly that the law aims at a peaceful reunification with Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province. "We have sufficient patience in developing cross-straits relations and realizing peaceful reunification," Wang said. But he said "significant and complex changes" have taken place in Taiwan, singling out "Taiwan independence secessionists" for intensifying efforts to legalize the situation in Taiwan, which has a democratically elected government and de-facto independence. The Anti-Secession Law allows use of non-peaceful means to stop what it calls "Taiwan independence." "No sovereign state can tolerate secession," Wang said. "Non- peaceful means of stopping Taiwan's secession from China by Taiwan independence will be used only as the last resort and only when our efforts for a peaceful reunification prove totally futile." --SPA 2328 Local Time 2028 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/279872