More than 50 percent of the people in Taiwan prefer independence to unification or prefer to stick with the status quo, according to the latest opinion poll released by the Cabinet's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission yesterday.
According to the survey, which questioned about 1,000 adults between Monday and Tuesday last week, about 32 percent of the people polled said that Taiwan independence is better for the nation's interest than unification with China.
Over 21 percent said that unification is better for the nation's interest than independence, while nearly 20 percent said that they prefer the status quo.
A survey administered by the commission about the same time last year showed that nearly 30 percent of the people polled said that it is in the best interest of Taiwan if the nation declares independence, while about 28 percent said that they preferred unification to independence.
About 17 percent of the people questioned last year said that they prefer the status quo.
A separate opinion poll conducted by the Mainland Affairs Council (
Chin Heng-wei (
"There are more and more people who prefer Taiwan independence to unification with China nowadays," Chin said. "The 2004 presidential election will become a referendum for Taiwan's future if the issue of independence or unification becomes the main theme of the campaign."
Chin, who regarded those preferring the status quo as "mild supporters of independence," said that the commision's latest poll actually showed that 52 percent of the people support the idea of independence, while 21 percent prefer unification.
Wu Tung-yeh (
"Although more and more people support Taiwan's independence, I don't think it'll become a key issue in the presidential election in 2004," Wu said.
Direct transportation links with China, however, will become an issue because it is not as controversial as independence, which triggers more ideological confrontation than rational debates, Wu said.
"The candidate who points out a way to strike a balance between national security and business opportunities will win the election," Wu said.
Wu also questioned the reliability of the commision's latest poll.
"I know that more and more are pro-independence, but I doubt that there are that many people," Wu said.
Wu said that as pro-independence people increase and pro-unification people decrease, there should be more people are in favor of maintaining the status quo.
"That's one of the reasons why Beijing has kept a low profile recently, because on the one hand, the international community will condemn it if it uses military forces against Taiwan and on the other hand, it's afraid that it'll lose its grip on Taiwan as it becomes more democratized," he said.
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
RSS