Tsai's trip will not serve intended purpose

A week before Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen travels to Latin America, Zhang Zhijun, head of the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office, said in his New Year's message that the Chinese mainland will share development opportunities with Taiwan while firmly opposing "Taiwan independence" activities.

Tsai's weeklong trip to Latin America from Saturday will take her to Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, with stopovers in Houston and San Francisco in the United States. Her visit is aimed at strengthening the island's "diplomatic ties" with 21 countries, mostly in Latin America and the Caribbean, after losing the African island nation of Sao Tome and Principe, which resumed diplomatic relations with Beijing last month.

The mainland has exercised utmost restraint despite knowing the Tsai administration will ignore the 1992 Consensus while seeking to maintain relations with its "diplomatic allies". In fact, the mainland has given the island enough time to finish the "incomplete test" and put cross-Straits relations back on the right track, without wounding its "political dignity".