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Poll finds Taiwanese fear nation's status is declining

Despite euphoria over Taiwan's accession to the WTO, 46.4 percent of respondents to the Min-istry of Foreign Affairs' latest survey said they believe Taiwan's international status is declining, up 5.2 percentage points from five months ago.

"This figure has little to do with WTO accession. ... It largely reflects the problems with Taiwan's domestic situation, both in political and economic terms, and the general perception of China as a rising power," said Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), chairman of the foreign ministry's Research and Planning Board.

"It [the result], indeed, largely has to do with our self-confidence," Lo added.

According to the new survey, 30.5 percent of respondents said there has been no apparent change in Taiwan's international status during the past year, while 10.9 percent said Taiwan's status in the global community has risen.

A similar survey conducted in June showed 32.8 percent of respondents said there has been no change in Taiwan's international status, while 14 percent said the nation's position has been improving.

When asked if the government should continue to push for Taiwan's accession to more international organizations now that Taiwan is a member of the WTO, 81.7 percent said "yes" while 3.7 percent said "no."

With a sample size of 1,076 aged 20 and above, the same poll also indicated that 36.1 percent of respondents said China should be blamed for Taiwan's absence from this year's APEC summit, while 28.3 percent said Taiwan should take most of the responsibility for the diplomatic fiasco.

On the controversial issue of "one country, two systems," 8.6 percent of respondents backed the idea, down 2 percentage points from five months ago, with the dip falling within an acceptable margin of error.

Another 72.1 percent of respondents said they opposed the idea, while 19.3 percent declined to answer the question, the survey showed.

The same poll conducted in June showed that 75.2 percent of respondents opposed the notion while 14.2 percent declined to answer.

Figures from official polls by the foreign ministry and the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), have shown far fewer Taiwanese back Chinese rule as described under the "one country, two systems."

A MAC poll conducted in July showed that only 13.3 percent of respondents backed the proposal.

Two major Chinese-language newspapers, the United Daily News and the China Times, and the TVBS cable company recently put the figure at more than 30 percent -- fueling concerns that more and more people were becoming disappointed with the DPP government.

Officials have attributed the discrepancy in the figures to different methods and wording employed in the polls.

"We've discovered that the clearer the question, the lower the approval rate," Lo added.

The foreign ministry survey asked people whether they would agree to be ruled by China under the "one country, two systems" arrangement under which the Republic of China would cease to exist.

The Chinese-language United Daily News, on the other hand, questioned whether its respondents would accept "one country, two systems" as a peaceful means to end cross-strait turmoil.
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