Dead end for 'de-sinification'

As Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party have not recognized the 1992 Consensus and have not issued any statement in support of one China, there have been no institutionalized exchanges across the Taiwan Straits since she came to power.

Due to the DPP's pro-independence stance, such kind of frosty cross-Straits ties will likely continue and indeed deteriorate - this is the reality people on both sides of the Straits have to face.

The DPP's refusal to embrace the 1992 Consensus that there is one China has not dented Beijing's hope it will at least not retreat from what Tsai called the "status quo" achieved under her predecessor and refrain from any disguised moves for "Taiwan independence". Yet it is approaching the redline the mainland has drawn for the cross-Straits situation.