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.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
UNITED: The other candidates congratulated Cheng on her win, saying they hoped the new chair could bring the party to victory in the elections next year and in 2028 Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday won the party’s chair election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes. It was the first time Cheng, 55, ran for the top KMT post, and she is the second woman to hold the post of chair, following Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who served from 2016 to 2017. Cheng is to succeed incumbent Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Nov. 1 for a four-year term. Cheng said she has spoken with the other five candidates and pledged to maintain party unity, adding that the party would aim to win the elections next year and
RSS