Taiwan's Tsai wise not to dance to Beijing's tune

TAIWAN'S President Tsai Ing-wen, in delivering her first National Day speech on Monday, refused to bow to Beijing's pressure, although she called on China to value the positive results of cross-strait exchanges over the past 20 years and called for talks as soon as possible.

Evidently responding to mainland China's expressed desire for step-by-step progress towards a "final resolution" of political differences, she urged Beijing "to face up to the reality that the Republic of China exists", and that leaders on both sides "should jointly display wisdom and flexibility and together, bring a divided present toward a win-win future".

Most of the speech was devoted to domestic issues, such as housing, the predicament of young people, providing a life of dignity for the elderly, transforming the economy and judicial reform.