Time for Tsai to read the writing on the wall: China Daily editorial

That her refusal to accept the 1992 Consensus that there is only one China and instead curry favors with the United States, which in reality can be no one's friend, would come back to haunt her was obvious. But rather than waking up and realizing it was a shadow she and her ruling party were following, she continued to dream of "independence".

Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen's failure to realize her follies, apart from souring relations across the Taiwan Straits, has also cost the island seven "diplomatic" partners, the latest being Kiribati.

Despite the constrained cross-Straits ties causing serious economic difficulties, Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party could not see the light. As a result, the island's economic performance has continued to weaken, in part due to falling revenue from tourism which thrived for eight years before Tsai assumed office in 2016 thanks to record numbers of visitors from the Chinese mainland.

Tsai didn't realize the foolishness of choosing the perilous path of "independence" even when the DPP suffered a humiliating defeat in the local elections last year. But even before getting the electoral shock, Taiwan had been receiving consular blows.

Less than a year after Tsai assumed office, Sao Tome and Principe cut off official ties with the island to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing. The African island country was followed by the Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso, El Salvador and Panama. On Monday, the Solomon Islands became the sixth country to sever ties with Taiwan since Tsai took office, followed by Kiribati on Friday.

Tsai believes, wrongly though, that her tough stance against Beijing will help her get re-elected next year, without realizing her flawed policy has done little to improve the island's economy and people's livelihoods despite the island's economic growth declining from 2.89 percent in 2017 to 2.69 percent last year. This year's growth forecast is even lower.

Tsai and her party, in trying to strengthen their ideological hold over the island, are actually destroying the one thing Taiwan compatriots were proud of: economic prosperity. The situation across the Straits could not be more different, as Beijing's focus is on qualitative economic growth and improving people's livelihoods.

The United Nations and the international community accept that the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legitimate government that represents the whole of China, and that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.

Unless Tsai and her DPP acknowledge this essential fact, the island's economy will continue to suffer, partly because of the strained relations across the Straits, and the Taiwan administration will continue to be isolated, because the developments of the past years suggest Kiribati's decision could trigger a domino effect.