A poll conducted by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) showed yesterday that 72 percent of Taiwanese are unclear about the meaning of the so-called “1992 consensus.” The consensus — which President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) claim to be an agreement reached by Taiwan and China in 1992 that means “one China, with each side having its own interpretation” — was refuted by DPP Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ying-wen (蔡英文) in her China policy unveiled last week.
The poll showed 63.7 percent do not accept the “1992 consensus,” which is based on the “one China” principle and that only 13.8 percent agree with Ma’s statement that “One China means the Republic of China [ROC].”
Saying that the poll showed 69.3 percent believe “Taiwan is the ROC, and the ROC is Taiwan,” and that “Taiwan equates to the ROC,” DPP spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the results of the poll suggested the mainstream public opinion in Taiwan is that “Taiwan is the ROC.”
Another DPP spokesperson Kang Yu-cheng (康裕成) said the results clearly suggested that the “1992 consensus” is not a consensus supported by Taiwanese, but rather a “KMT-Chinese Communist Party consensus.”
Tsai maintains that the support for the “status quo” remains the main “Taiwan consensus,” a position that can be affirmed through the democratic process and should be used as a precondition in relations with China. In the poll, 65.5 percent of respondents agreed with this position, while 19.9 percent disagreed.
The poll was conducted on Thursday and Friday, with 1,025 samples collected. It has a margin of error of 3.1 percent.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
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