No shaking Taiwan from the motherland

Unless done so deliberately, it is impossible to misconstrue the meaning of the remarks by Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, at a news conference on Wednesday: "It is easier to shake mountains than to shake the one-China principle."

For Taiwan regional leader Tsai Ing-wen, Ma's remark expressing the Chinese mainland's resolution to safeguard its territorial integrity and oppose "Taiwan independence", should serve as a clear warning that she should not regard the landslide victory she won in the island's regional leadership elections over the weekend as giving her carte blanche to act on her mistaken belief that the island is an independent country.

Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party resorted to dirty tricks, including cheating, repression and intimidation to help secure their election victory, and they are deliberately distorting the result as if it truly reflects the opinion on the island.

And it is reasonable to ask whether those voters who endorsed Tsai and the DPP want cross-Straits relations to become a head-on conflict. Rather than assuming that she has support to continue on her damaging course of refusing to accept that the island is part of one China, Tsai should focus on developing the island's economy and improving its people's livelihoods.

Yet, judging from her persistent penchant for provocative moves in support of her political agenda in the past few years, those who hope Tsai will be able to carefully walk the tightrope between Beijing and Washington and improve their compatriots' livelihoods will be disappointed in the end, as all she wants to do is to push her pro-independence agenda at whatever cost, including the wellbeing of Taiwan residents.

Even those supporting her secessionist pipe dream cannot deny how much the island's economic development hinges on the mainland. Yet all that Tsai did in her first term was to block normal cross-Straits exchanges and cooperation. The so-called anti-infiltration law, passed at the end of last year, being the most recent example.

Tsai should know her re-election does not change the basic pattern of cross-Straits relations. She should also listen to the rising calls from Taiwan compatriots for improving cross-Straits relations and expanding exchanges.

Statistics show despite Tsai and her administration's efforts to limit cross-Straits exchanges, the number of personnel exchanges was maintained at 9 million, indicating the strong desire of both sides for exchanges and cooperation. Clearly, differing political systems are not an obstacle to warm cross-Straits relations nor does the fact of their existence change the status of Taiwan as a part of one China.