More than half of the people polled in a new survey said they could not accept Beijing's treating cross-strait transportation services as a domestic issue and that they agreed with President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) proposals in his National Day address.
The poll was conducted by Decision-Making Research (決策調查公司), under contract from the Government Information Office, on Wednesday and Thursday.
The poll found that more than 67 percent of respondents questioned said they could not accept Beijing's precondition of considering cross-strait transportation services as a "domestic affair" before both sides sit down to talk, while about 14 percent of them said they could.
The survey also indicated that nearly 43 percent thought China should be blamed for the stalemate on cross-strait relations, while only 20 percent of them said that President Chen should be held responsible.
When asked their opinions about President Chen's Double Ten National Day speech, nearly 45 percent of the respondents said that Chen had extended goodwill and sincerity to China, while about 30 percent said they he had not.
The poll also found that over 53 percent of the people agreed that Taiwan is the Republic of China and the Republic of China is Taiwan, while about 26 percent disagreed.
In the highly anticipated speech, Chen made it clear that the Republic of China is Taiwan and Taiwan is the Republic of China, and that the sovereignty of the Republic of China is vested with the 23 million people of Taiwan.
In a bid to seek further progress in the opening of the "three transportation links" policy, Chen revealed that the government is formulating a plan that provides a "convenient and efficient means" to facilitate chartered flights for passengers and cargo.
One day later, the Cabinet announced that it hopes to see bilateral cross-strait direct cargo and passenger charter flights take place by next spring, provided China is willing to send appropriate personnel to negotiate the issue.
Chinese authorities, however, dismissed President Chen's proposals for resuming cross-strait talks as a blatant assertion of Taiwanese independence, and said his call to ease cross-strait tensions is fake while his moves to bring about Taiwanese independence are real.
The survey found that about 61 percent of the people threw their backing behind the government's charter flight plan, while about 24 percent of them said they did not.
The survey also showed that about 55 percent of the people said that they agreed with the president's proposal to develop some form of political relations across the Strait should the 23 million Taiwanese people consent to it, while only about 24 percent of the people said they disagreed.
Chen proposed in his National Day speech to create an environment based upon "peaceful development and freedom of choice" if both sides are willing. In the future, both sides can seek to establish political relations in any form whatsoever, if there is the consent of the 23 million people of Taiwan.
Over 71 percent of the respondents also said that they agreed with the president's proposal to establish a military mechanism to establish mutual trust, while about 17 percent of the people disagreed.
Chen proposed that both sides establish confidence-building measures through consultations and dialogue.
Meanwhile, a separate poll made available yesterday found that more than 24 percent of those surveyed would support the Democratic Progressive Party during the upcoming legislative elections, while nearly 15 percent said they would cast their votes for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
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