Despite China’s repeated attempts to force Taiwan’s incoming administration to accept the idea that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to “one China,” a survey released yesterday showed that most people reject the construction.
The survey, conducted by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research (TISR) on Thursday and Friday last week, sought to gauge Taiwanese perception of the notion that “both sides of the Strait belong to one China,” which is backed by both the Taipei and Beijing constitutions.
Article 11 of the Additional Articles of the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution states: “Rights and obligations between the people of the Chinese mainland area and those of the free area [Taiwan], and the disposition of other related affairs may be specified by law.”
In the preface to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Constitution, Taiwan is listed as part of the “sacred territory” of the PRC.
Asked about their opinions on the statement that “one China” refers to the PRC, an overwhelming majority, or 81.6 percent, of respondents opposed the concept, with only 9.2 percent accepting the notion.
Even if “one China” refers to the ROC, 60 percent of those polled still disliked the idea that both sides belong to “one China,” but the percentage of people willing to embrace the notion rose to 28.8 percent.
Respondents who identified themselves as pan-blue supporters appeared to be divided on the issue, as 54.3 percent of them welcomed the concept of both sides belonging to the ROC, but 39 percent found it insupportable, the poll showed.
A majority of pan-green respondents, or 81.8 percent, were negative toward the assertion, compared with 14.2 percent who thought otherwise, the survey showed.
The results showed that the degree of people’s dislike of the idea that both sides of the Strait belong to one China is inversely proportional to their age, regardless of whether “one China” refers to the PRC or the ROC.
Of those polled, 75.8 percent equated abiding by the ROC Constitution to maintenance of the cross-strait “status quo,” while 14.1 percent disagreed.
Public consensus still seems to be lacking with regard to China’s repeated insistence on setting president-elect Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) acceptance of the so-called “1992 consensus” and the notion of both sides belonging to “one China” as a precondition for continued cross-strait government and economic exchanges.
About 38 percent of respondents believed Tsai should not acknowledge the “1992 consensus” under such a condition, while 33.4 percent urged the incoming president to do so, the poll showed. Nearly 29 percent declined to express their opinions.
In addition to political affiliation, age also appears to be a key factor in debates on the issue.
Respondents aged between 20 and 39 tended to aspire to see Tsai shrug off the “1992 consensus,” while those in the 40 to 59 age group generally believed she should welcome the consensus, the survey indicated.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Former Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Su Chi (蘇起) has admitted that he made up the term in 2000.
The telephone-based poll collected 1,000 valid samples from Taiwanese aged 20 or older.
In related news, the Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday published a survey it conducted to gauge ideas of national identity, in which a record high of 73 percent of people identified themselves as Taiwanese.
“Over the past two decades, the percentage of people who identified themselves as Taiwanese has climbed from 44 percent in 1996 to 55 percent in 2006, then to a record-high 73 percent in our latest poll,” the newspaper said.
The proportion of people identifying as Chinese hit a record-low of 11 percent, down from 20 percent in 2006 and 31 percent in 1996, the United Daily News poll suggested.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS