1992 Consensus leaves no room for word games

During the latest televised debate for the island's 2016 leadership election, Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, said that the 1992 Consensus, which was built on the one-China principle, was "an option, but not the only option". Eastday.com has criticized Tsai's ambiguous stance and urges her to stop seeking "Taiwan independence":

Thanks to the historic 1992 Consensus, Wang Daohan, then president of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, and Koo Chen-fu, the chairman of the island's Straits Exchange Foundation, were able to hold a groundbreaking meeting in 1993, the first cross-Straits engagement in over four decades.

The same applies to the 2005 meeting between the leaders of the mainland's Communist Party of China and Taiwan's Kuomintang, the resumption of cross-Straits institutional consultations three years later, even the historic meeting between leaders Xi Jinping and Ma Ying-jeou in Singapore in November.

However, when asked about her stance on the consensus, Tsai again shunned giving a clear answer to the question and instead criticized the KMT candidate for "pretending to be asleep". Clearly it is she who refuses to wake up to the fact that the 1992 Consensus and the one-China principle are the political foundations for cross-Straits ties.

If Tsai truly seeks common ground and setting aside differences, she would not hesitate to uphold the consensus. Other similar vague comments like "maintaining the status quo", to some extent, unveil her "pro-independence" mentality, which will only damage the cross-Straits relationship. It is time for her to get rid of all her political illusions before it is too late.