China has rewritten its national mobilization law to put "unification" into the legal text, a change Taiwan analysts read as bad news because it gives Beijing a legal wrapper for military action against the island.

• The new law, effective October 1, is the first major overhaul since 2010 and defines mobilization as protecting sovereignty, unification, and territorial integrity.
• Once Beijing declares a mobilization state, it can quickly convert people, transport, communications, energy, medical care, and media into war resources.
• Men aged 18 to 60 and women aged 18 to 55 would be obliged to take on defense duties.
• The law is not aimed only at Taiwan — the South China Sea, the India border, and the East China Sea are all potential flashpoints — but naming unification creates a direct legal threat to Taipei.
• Ukraine's war taught Beijing that long conflicts need huge factory output and supply lines, so the law forces the economy to switch fast from peacetime to wartime.

Outlook: Taiwan is being urged to watch China's economic and industrial mobilization signs, not just troop movements, as an early warning of war.