A poll by the Chinese-language United Daily News (UDN) found 55 percent of respondents favor perpetual maintenance of the cross-strait “status quo,” a rise of 8 percent from last year.
According to the poll released yesterday, 16 percent of the respondents said that they would like Taiwan to declare its formal independence as soon as possible, while 12 percent of respondents said that they would prefer to maintain the “status quo” now and declare independence later.
Four percent said they would like Taiwan to be reunified with China as soon as possible, while 9 percent said they would prefer future reunification.
Four percent said they had no comment or declined to answer.
Perpetually maintaining the “status quo” enjoyed the highest support since the UDN began conducting the surveys in 2000.
Meanwhile, support for “independence as soon as possible” and “reunification as soon as possible” both dipped by 3 percentage points from last year.
Although a large percentage of the respondents believe that China will become the world’s strongest nation and eventually lead the world, more than 50 percent said they do not have a good impression of China.
The poll found 59 percent of respondents think that China will become the strongest nation in the world, while 32 percent disagree.
However, for six consecutive years, more than 50 percent of the respondents — 58 percent this year — said they have a negative image of the Chinese government, while only 28 percent said they have a positive image of the Chinese government.
Although a slightly lower number of people said they have a “bad impression” of Chinese people, the figure — 51 percent — is still far higher than those who have a “good impression” of Chinese people, which is about 28 percent.
Asked what impression they have of the Chinese government, most of the respondents answered “corruption,” “dictatorship” and “non-democratic.”
Most of the respondents said that their impression of Chinese people include “uncivilized behavior,” “inconsiderate,” “law violations” and “showing off their wealth.”
Although a majority of the respondents believe that China might become the strongest nation in the world, less than 50 percent of the respondents said they worry that China’s threat against Taiwan would intensify.
The poll showed that 34 percent of the respondents said they are worried that a strong China would have a negative impact on Taiwan’s development, while 62 percent said they are not.
The poll was conducted in the evenings from Wednesday to Saturday last week, with 1,042 valid adult samples randomly selected by telephone across the nation.
Responding to the poll results, the Presidential Office yesterday said the “status quo” refers to the cross-strait peace and prosperity since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office seven years ago.
The Democratic Progressive Party said the results show that its presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) cross-strait policy of maintaining the “status quo” is gaining the trust of the public.
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