Cross-strait Stalemate

Tsai Ing-wen’s inaugural address and Beijing’s reaction to it have done nothing more than confirm the fact that has been evident for the past few months: cross-strait relations are entering a period of stalemate.

The mainland’s position was reaffirmed in the post-inaugural statement of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office. The statement said that Tsai had failed to “explicitly recognize” the 1992 consensus and its “core meaning” that both the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China. According to Beijing, this understanding had been the foundation for peaceful development in the past. This omission was said to represent an “incomplete examination paper” (meiyou wancheng dajuan).