On May 20, 2016, Tsai Ing-wen was sworn in as the first female president of Taiwan.

Unlike her predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, she has taken more cautious steps in developing relations with China, but also maintains a strong stance for an independent Taiwan.

At the Presidential Inauguration this past May, Tsai briefly discussed the 1992 Consensus. She did not go into detail on diplomatic relations with China but instead focused on the importance of promoting a stable relationship along the Taiwan Strait.

"Since 1992, over twenty years of interactions and negotiations across the Strait have enabled and accumulated outcomes which both sides must collectively cherish and sustain," Tsai Ing-wen stated at the Inauguration.

The Consensus, though ambiguously agreed upon through an exchange of notes, was the first compromise after decades of fighting since their split in 1949. Both Taiwanese and Beijing officials have attempted to create peace and build trust, but are still separated by ideological differences.

In 1949, Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang, was overthrown by the Communist Party, led by Mao Zedong, and fled to southern China in what is now Taiwan. When the Nationalists fled to the south they formed their own governing body, separate from mainland China's Communist leadership.

Since their split and particularly after the 1992 Consensus, Beijing officials have pushed for the unification of Taiwan and China as one, while Taiwan, especially under the leadership of Tsai, has been pushing to maintain Taiwan’s independence despite military threats from China.

“The two governing parties across the Strait must set aside the baggage of history, and engage in positive dialogue, for the benefit of the people on both sides,” Tsai said at the Inauguration.

The Taiwan Affairs Office in China stated that Tsai’s remarks about the 1992 Consensus in her inaugural speech “didn’t clearly acknowledge the ’92 Consensus.” Chinese officials demand that Tsai accept the 1992 Consensus and clearly state that Taiwan and China will be unified as one China.

The Taiwanese government’s refusal to endorse the idea of unification between the Two Chinas has led Beijing officials to put pressure on the Taiwanese government by suspending cross-strait communications with Taiwan.