A vast majority of respondents in a poll on national identity said they were “Taiwanese,” the Taiwan Thinktank said yesterday.
Regarding national identification, 59.8 percent of respondents said they are Taiwanese, while only 2.9 percent identified as Chinese, Taiwan Thinktank deputy executive-general Doong Sy-chi (董思齊) told a news conference in Taipei, adding that 34 percent of respondents said they identify as Taiwanese and Chinese.
When given only one choice, 84.9 percent identified as Taiwanese, and only 8.7 percent said they were Chinese, Doong said, adding that the findings were consistent with earlier surveys.
About 90 percent of people aged 18 to 29 identify as Taiwanese, while 25 percent of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supporters identify as Chinese, Doong said.
Commenting of the growing self-identification as Taiwanese, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said: “This is the clear manifestation of national identity.”
However, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said that about 8 percent of Taiwanese would choose the Chinese side “when crunch time comes.”
Lawmakers should amend legislation to better protect national security, for example by limiting Chinese investments in Taiwan, he added.
In the poll, about 60 percent of respondents said that Taiwan’s economy so far fared well during the COVID-19 pandemic, while about 35 percent said that the economy did not perform well enough, the think tank said.
Eighty-two percent said that the government should push Taiwan as a brand to help export-oriented companies, Doong said.
Meanwhile, the survey showed 81.3 percent said they are unwilling to give up the nation's sovereignty in exchange for joining international trade bodies, Doong said.
Fifty-five percent said that Taiwanese firms should cut links to China-dominated supply chains, he said.
A majority thinks that US-led supply chains are better for Taiwan’s economy, while 30 percent think that close ties to Chinese manufacturers are more important, Doong said.
Among the four elected presidents of Taiwan’s democratic era, respondents gave the highest grades to late president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the think tank said, adding that this reflected strong support for Lee’s policies to develop industries and spur economic growth.
More than 70 percent agreed with Lee’s “go slow, be patient” principle, Doong said, adding that 84.1 percent said they supported Lee’s efforts to integrate Taiwan into the global economy by joining international bodies such as the APEC.
The survey, conducted from Friday to Sunday last week, collected 1,078 valid telephone samples from across Taiwan, and had a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
This story has been amended since it was first published.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS