A majority of Taiwanese believe the nation’s presidential candidates should make an unequivocal statement that Taiwan is not part of China, according to a Taiwan Thinktank survey released yesterday.
The telephone-based poll — carried out on Nov. 25 and Nov. 26 among people aged 20 or older — found that 64 percent of respondents think presidential candidates should clearly state that Taiwan is not part of China.
On the cross-strait relationship, 46.6 percent of those polled said that a meeting of the leaders of Taiwan and China conducted under the framework of the so-called “1992 consensus” was unacceptable, whereas 36 percent said it was acceptable.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The “1992 consensus” refers to a supposed understanding reached during cross-strait talks in 1992 that both Taiwan and China acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what that means.
The poll showed that 41.8 percent of respondents said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would best safeguard Taiwan’s interests in cross-strait negotiations, while 23.8 percent backed Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) and 16.7 percent favored People First Party (PFP) challenger James Soong (宋楚瑜).
Despite Chu’s repeated warnings over the potential impact on the nation’s democratic path if the KMT loses its legislative majority, 50.3 percent of respondents said they wanted the DPP to win more than half of the 113 legislative seats to prevent the government from continuing to lean toward China.
The idea that a DPP-dominated legislature should counter the nation’s drift toward China is most prevalent among younger Taiwanese, the poll suggests, with 60.1 percent aged between 20 and 29 supporting such an approach.
With regard to the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections, 48.2 percent of those polled said they would vote for Tsai if the ballot were held tomorrow, while 19.4 percent said they would support Chu and 11.6 percent would opt for Soong.
Asked which of the three vice presidential candidates are best placed to assist the campaigns of their running mates, 58.1 percent of respondents said Tsai’s running mate, former Academia Sinica vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁).
Ten percent opted for Chu’s running mate, former Council of Labor Affairs minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄), and 6.7 percent picked Soong’s running mate, Republic Party Chairperson Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩), the survey said.
A simple majority, 32.7 percent, said they would support district legislative candidates nominated by the DPP, while 20.4 percent said they would vote for the KMT’s candidates.
Among smaller parties, the New Power Party’s (NPP) legislative candidates received the highest support at 7.3 percent, followed by those of the PFP at 3.4 percent and the Taiwan Solidarity Union at 2.1 percent.
In terms of party votes, about 35 percent said they would vote for the DPP, while the KMT garnered 22.2 percent and the NPP 7.3 percent.
The PFP received only 5.8 percent of support — barely above the 5 percent threshold required for a party to be awarded at-large seats.
The poll collected 1,068 valid samples, with a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
Taiwan is hosting the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) for the first time, welcoming more than 400 young linguists from 43 nations to National Taiwan University (NTU). Deputy Minister of Education Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) said at the opening ceremony yesterday that language passes down knowledge and culture, and influences the way humankind thinks and understands the world. Taiwan is a multicultural and multilingual nation, with Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, 16 indigenous languages and Taiwan Sign Language all used, Chu said. In addition, Taiwan promotes multilingual education, emphasizes the cultural significance of languages and supports the international mother language movement, he said. Taiwan has long participated
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for