An unhealthy obsession

JUST hours after Taiwan’s leader, Tsai Ing-wen, landed on the island on her return from a trip to two Latin American countries, another, El Salvador, cut its “diplomatic relations” with Taipei, switching them to Beijing. The timing is too sensitive to be acceptable, according to the enraged authorities in Taipei. Indeed, it is both ironic and embarrassing for a diplomatic mission intended to cement, if not expand, international recognition to end up shrinking it.

However “unacceptable” it is, it is an indication of the increasingly explicit, and inescapable, reality facing Tsai: the more she tries to enlarge international recognition for Taiwan as an independent entity, the smaller the space for her pursuit becomes.

Since assuming office on May 20, 2016, she has lost the “diplomatic recognition” of five countries, and it is likely Tsai’s losing streak will continue if she continues with her anti-mainland stunts.

Cross-Straits relations do not have to be like this, though. Under Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang, Taiwan did not have to worry about pressure from the mainland, nor did it lose any diplomatic ally. Instead, upholding the “one China” consensus brought various benefits to people on both sides of the Straits.

Tsai’s obsession with de facto independence is the obstacle to Taiwan’s pursuit of “international breathing space”.