Whatever kind of power Beijing decides to exert over Taiwan, whether it be soft or hard, the decision will have momentous consequences on both sides of the Strait.

Despite rising tension across the Taiwan Strait, Tsai has not rushed to seek independence, while the mainland has maintained its patient policy. Thus no crisis has yet emerged — still, Taiwan, mainland China, and the US should all strive to relax tension and resume peaceful cross-strait development to avoid a new cold war.

The United States sent Navy and Coast Guard ships through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, the military said, as the United States increases the frequency of movement through the strategic waterway despite opposition from China.

On January 2nd this year, after President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at a gathering to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the “Message to Compatriots in Taiwan” that called for Chinese unification, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait set off to explore the two-system solution to the Taiwan question.

China urged the U.S. not to allow Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to stop over in Hawaii next week.

Trump’s Taiwan policy endangers peace and stability between the Taiwan Strait and risks causing catastrophe in China-US relations. Tsai Ing-wen should not mistake Trump’s policy as US support for Taiwanese independence and should see it as it is: a way to hedge against the mainland.

Hardline, pro-independence activists in Taiwan are pushing for an independence referendum for the island to officially become an independent country, but these activists are risking catastrophe for themselves and the global community.

Whatever claims China has made to a “Peaceful Rise,” it is clear that “peaceful” is ringing somewhat hollow. China now seeks to create a new set of global norms, starting with ejecting the US from Asia.

The DPP persists in distorting the Taiwan issue, and fighting Taiwan’s inevitable reunification with the mainland.