Public growing more confident in Taiwan: poll

By the numbers * 37.4 percent say relations with the US have improved greatly since George W. Bush became US president. * 73.2 percent said they were against the concept of ``one country, two systems.'' * 28.6 percent of respondents think that Taiwan's international status is improving.

More of the nation's citizens feel that Taiwan's place in the international community is growing, according to a recent survey conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to the poll, conducted between April 15 and April 18, 28.6 percent of respondents think that Taiwan's international status has improved.

That's up 17.7 percentage points from a survey taken five months earlier.

The number of respondents who think there's been no change in Taiwan's status over the past year was 39.5 percent. Of the respondents, 19.7 percent said Taiwan's status in the world community has been declining.

In the survey conducted five months ago, 30.5 percent of respondents said there has been no change in Taiwan's international status, while 46.4 percent said the nation's position has been decreasing.

Yesterday's survey also found that more than 50 percent of the respondents said they feel optimistic about Taiwan's diplomatic efforts, up 18.1 percentage points from five months ago.

Liu Fu-kuo (劉復國), chairman of the foreign ministry's Research and Planning Board, announced the results of the survey yesterday during the ministry's regular press conference.

The poll was conducted by an election research center at the National Chengchi University. The poll surveyed 1,090 people age 20 and above.

Asked if the government should continue pushing for Taiwan's accession to the World Health Organization now that Taiwan is a WTO member, 69.4 percent said "yes." Just 5.4 percent were opposed to the move.

The poll also found that 37.4 percent of the respondents said Taiwan-US relations have improved greatly since George W. Bush became US president.

When asked whether accession to the WTO by Beijing and Taipei could help improve relations under the framework of the international trade group, 58.2 percent said "yes," while 19.3 didn't see better ties.

On the controversial issue of "one country, two systems," 9.6 percent of the respondents backed the concept.

That's up 1 percentage point from five months ago, though the change was within the survey's margin of error.

There was still overwhelming opposition to the idea. Of the respondents, 73.2 percent were against "one country, two systems," while 17.3 percent declined to answer the question.

In the poll conducted five months ago, 72.1 percent were opposed to the idea while 19.3 percent were silent on the question.