Beijing ? Premier Wen Jiabao vowed Saturday never to allow Taiwan “to separate from China under any name or by any means” as the Chinese parliament opened its annual session and prepared to enact an anti-secession law targeting the self-governing island.

In a nationally televised speech before the legislature, Wen also set a target of 8 percent economic growth in 2005, down from the 9.5 percent recorded last year, signaling a renewed campaign.

Wen also acknowledged “glaring problems in social development” and pledged to abolish the nation’s main agricultural tax within two years as well as to implement new programs to ease poverty and address widespread social unrest.

But with the anti-secession bill scheduled for a vote on March 14, Taiwan was expected to be the most urgent focus of this year’s session of the rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress. Wen offered no new details of the proposed law, which Taiwan has warned could set the stage for a military attack. The United States also has described the measure as provocative.

The Chinese government considers Taiwan part of China and has threatened to use force against the island of 23 million if it formally declares independence. Officials say the new legislation will enshrine that threat in law, mandating a military attack against Taiwan if it secedes.

“This law represents the common will and strong determination of the entire Chinese people to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country,” Wen said. He also promised to “make the greatest possible effort to do anything conducive to the development of cross-strait relations and the country’s peaceful reunification.”

Paramilitary police march through Tianamen Square outside Beijing's Great Hall of the People on Saturday. Beijing stepped up already tight security, with hundreds of police and plainclothes security agents standing guard outside the Great Hall and adjacent Tiananmen Square to prevent protests.

The premier’s remarks came a day after President Hu Jintao, the Communist Party’s top leader, set forth what the official New China News Agency described as new guidelines on relations with Taiwan in a meeting with delegates to a congressional advisory body.

Hu offered no substantive concessions, continuing to insist that Taiwan acknowledge that it and the mainland are part of “one China” before cross-strait talks can resume. But he used language that echoed and built on a major Taiwan policy speech delivered Jan. 28 by another senior leader.