Tsai's political road map is dead end for Taiwan: Editorial

Showing she has closed her mind to the island's reunification with the motherland in any form, Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen has called for her administration to counter Beijing's "one country, two systems" formula for reunification.

Speaking at a security meeting she convened on Monday, she called on her officials to come up with measures to counter what she described as a serious challenge to the island's security and to prevent the mainland from interfering in the island's political, economic and social development, which she claimed was the biggest risk to the island.

Once again touting the "threat from the mainland", which is her default recourse, she elaborated on the different political systems on either side of the Straits, trying to present a prominent picture of political incompatibility.

But while she may choose to turn a blind eye to the fact that until she took office cross-Straits relations had developed smoothly for under her predecessor despite the different political systems, most people on the island do not suffer from such willful amnesia.

The majority of Taiwan compatriots know that the island's economic development and social progress have been facilitated by friendly cross-Straits relations.

For instance, the large number of tourists from the mainland who visit the island has long been an important source of revenue for the island.

But it appears that in Tsai's political calculations, the worse the relations across the Straits are, the easier it will be for her and her administration to fool people into believing her political platitudes about the island's "independence".

But one thing she has missed in her reckoning is the fact that she and her government will never be able to change the resolve of the mainland to not allow the island to become a separate country. She has also disregarded the fact that the island's "independence" is not the choice the majority of Taiwan people will make.

The road map Tsai seems to have in her mind for the island's secession from the motherland leads to a dead end. For while there is a vast space for peaceful reunification, there is no room for any sort of Taiwan separatist activities.

Nobody can change the fact that Taiwan is part of China. Despite the differences in political systems, there is enough leeway to develop good cross-Straits relations, which are in the interests of the people on both sides of the Straits. And with good relations established, a consensus will accumulate for the island's final reunification with the motherland as people on both sides of the Straits belong to the same family, and family differences can be resolved.