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.
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.
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