During the 2012 presidential election cycle, Tsai said that she disagreed with the 1992 Consensus as the basis for negotiations between Taiwan and mainland China, that such a consensus only served to buttress the "One China Principle", and that "no such consensus exists" because the majority of the Taiwanese public does not necessarily agree with this consensus. She believed that broad consultations should be held at all levels of Taiwanese society to decide the basis on which to advance negotiations with Beijing, dubbed the "Taiwan consensus".
In 2012, Tsai argued against the 1992 Consensus as the basis for negotiations between Taiwan and mainland China. She believed it only strengthened the "One China Principle" and that a majority of Taiwanese people did not agree with it.  Instead, she advocated for broad public consultations to determine the foundation for future talks with Beijing, which she called the "Taiwan Consensus".