More than 70 percent of respondents in a survey supported the nation's bid to join the UN under the name "Taiwan," a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official said yesterday.
The survey, commissioned by the council, was conducted by National Chengchi University's Election Study Center. The poll was conducted by telephone and participants were randomly chosen adults. Between Aug. 10 and Aug. 12 1,095 valid samples were collected.
Quoting the survey results, MAC Vice Chairman Johnnason Liu (
In addition, 81.5 percent of the respondents said they favored maintaining the "status quo," and 67.8 percent said they did not agree with the "one country, two systems" model by which China wants to rule Taiwan.
The survey also found that 78 percent of respondents did not accept Beijing's claim that Taiwan is a province of China and therefore is "not qualified to apply for membership of the United Nations."
Taiwan is an independent nation and the government is promoting the bid for UN membership under the name "Taiwan" based on public opinion, Liu said, calling on the international community to support Taiwan's application.
Last Tuesday, 15 of Taiwan's diplomatic allies put forward a motion at the UN pressing the world body to deal with Taiwan's membership application according to established procedures.
The motion, which the allies said they hope will be included on the agenda of the upcoming annual session of the UN General Assembly, was submitted by the ambassadors to the UN from Gambia, Swaziland and Tuvalu.
The motion's other sponsors were Belize, Burkina Faso, Honduras, Kiribati, Malawi, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sao Tome and Principe, and the Solomon Islands.
The 62nd regular session of the General Assembly is set to open on Sept. 18 in New York. The General Committee is expected to meet on Sept. 19 to finalize the agenda.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
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