IN AN INTERVIEW with The Washington Post, when asked whether the mainland has a deadline by which the Chinese central government wants her to agree to the 1992 Consensus, Taiwan's new leader Tsai Ing-wen said it's unlikely that Taiwan will accept a deadline for conditions that "are against the will of the people". Qiu Yi, a famous Taiwan scholar, said on Saturday Tsai has finally showed her true intentions of seeking the island's "formal independence":

Tsai for the first time since she took office clarified her stance on the 1992 Consensus, by denying the one-China principle and ruling out the possibility of finishing her "incomplete test" in this regard. She even showed little concern about whether the mainland has a deadline for her to accept the Consensus.

What emboldened the Taiwan leader to make such an unequivocal comment is the July 12 ruling on the Philippine's South China Sea arbitration case. That flawed and baseless award repudiates almost all Chinese presence in the waters, including Taiwan-controlled Taiping Island, which it sees as a reef. Both sides of the Taiwan Straits have announced their decision to ignore the ruling.