A poll by National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center showed that a record-high 23.8 percent of respondents support Taiwanese independence, while a record-low 32.7 percent regard themselves as both Chinese and Taiwanese.
Meanwhile, 60.4 percent said they are Taiwanese, according to the poll, released on Wednesday.
The data were collected from three separate polls titled “Taiwan Independence versus Unification with the Mainland Trend Distribution in Taiwan,” “Taiwanese/Chinese Identification Trend Distribution in Taiwan” and “Preferences Trend Distribution in Taiwan.”
The data showed that the percentage of people who regard themselves as Taiwanese is the highest since June 1992, and those identifying themselves as solely Chinese dropped to 3.5 percent.
The number of Taiwan independence supporters and those inclined toward an immediate declaration of independence was the highest since December 1994.
Support for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) reached a new low at 23.5 percent, compared with the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) 25.6 percent, the poll showed.
Most respondents who had once supported the KMT had taken a neutral stance and did not now support the DPP, the data showed.
Earlier this month, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) criticized the Taiwan independence clause in the DPP’s party charter, saying it is neither possible nor necessary to pursue independence because the Republic of China has been a sovereign state since it was established in 1912.
Fu Jen Catholic University assistant professor Chou Wei-hang (周偉航) in a recent article posted on his blog claimed Ma has come to promote independence.
The Ma administration’s cross-strait policies attempting to draw Taiwanese away from ideas of independence and toward eventual unification with China have instead driven Taiwanese further from Beijing, Chou wrote in an article dated Saturday last week.
Chou’s article also said that some of the more neutral cross-strait policies were affected by Ma’s incompetence, adding that successful policies in Ma’s terms — including increasing the number of countries allowing Taiwanese access to visa waiver programs or visas upon arrival — emphasized the difference between Taiwan and China.
No matter how much Ma would detest it, his “place in history” will be as a promoter of Taiwanese independence, Chou’s article said.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS