Time for Tsai to read the writing on the wall

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.