More than 60 percent of respondents disagreed with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) comment that “both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to ‘one China,’” a poll released yesterday by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research showed, while only 26.7 percent agreed with the statement.
Chu made the comments during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Bejiing on May 4. Chu later said that the “one China” he spoke of referred to the Republic of China (ROC), not the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Asked whether Taiwan and China belong to “one China,” 61.6 percent of respondents opposed the idea, 26.7 percent were in favor and 11.7 percent said they had no opinion on the matter or were neutral, the poll showed.
Image provided by TISR
The survey showed that 41.2 percent of respondents said that the talks in Beijing were more favorable to China, while 15.7 percent said they favored Taiwan.
The poll asked: “In the event of Taiwan and China mutually recognizing each other as rightful governments, should both sides enter into an alliance as two nations or merge and become a single country?”
Among respondents, 56.2 percent opposed an alliance, while 24.7 percent supported the idea and 19.1 percent said they had no opinion on the matter.
An analysis of the poll results showed that among pan-blue supporters, 47.5 percent opposed an alliance, while 42.7 percent supported the notion.
When asked who among Chu, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) — seen as potential KMT nominees for next year’s presidential election — would best preserve Taiwanese sovereignty, prioritize Taiwan’s safety and maintain cross-strait relations, Wang was ranked No. 1 by 36.9 percent of respondents, Chu was backed by 26.5 percent and Wu by 4.9 percent, while 12.8 percent said that none of the three would meet their expectations, 1.3 percent said all three were up to the task and 17.6 percent did not respond or said they did not know.
The survey was conducted on Monday and Tuesday.
It collected 1,004 valid samples from people aged 20 or above. It has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a