'Common challenge' for Straits

The recent ruling made by an arbitral tribunal on a case initiated by the Philippines, which rejects China's Nine-Dash Line in the South China Sea as illegal and takes Taiping Island inhabited by Taiwan fishermen as a "rock" rather than an "island", offers an opportunity for both sides of the Taiwan Straits to build up basic mutual trust again.

Taiwan's new leader Tsai Ing-wen's unwillingness to accept the 1992 Consensus and its core principle of one China has dented political trust with the mainland, which was further undermined by the "accidental" firing of a missile from Taiwan in the direction of the mainland.

Any cross-Straits discord will offer an opportunity for outside forces to take advantage of it and thus erode the rights and interests of the Chinese nation in the South China Sea. The establishment of mutual trust will help both sides offer each other mutual support at a critical time and jointly safeguard the interests of the Chinese nation.