A public opinion poll has shown that more than half of respondents feel that China and the US should be a priority in terms of Taiwan’s foreign relations, but younger people tended to favor China as the priority, a public opinion poll showed.
“The result appears to reflect Taiwanese people’s pragmatism,” Taiwan Indicator Survey Research (TISR) general manager Tai Li-an (戴立安) said in a press release yesterday.
Asked whether China or the US should be higher on the priority list of Taiwan’s foreign relations, 17.2 percent of those polled favored China, while 15.4 percent of the respondents favored the US.
However, 56 percent of respondents added that the priority should reflect whatever issues are at stake.
Citing detailed data compiled by TISR, Tai said that the age of 45 appeared to be a dividing line, with people younger tending to favor China, while those over 45 favored the US.
The survey, conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday, focused on the Chinese Communist Party’s National Congress and the recently concluded US presidential election.
The poll found that 51.8 percent of those polled said they paid a lot of attention to the Beijing event, but 73.4 percent of the respondents could not name Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平) as the next Chinese president.
Asked about outgoing Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) achievements in relation to cross-strait peace, respondents said that Hu had failed to impress, with an average score of 58.1 points.
Exactly half of the respondents supported any efforts that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) may take in seeking to sign a peace treaty with Beijing before he concludes his second term, while 32.8 percent disagreed with the plan and 17.1 percent said they had no opinion on the matter.
However, support for Ma dropped after respondents were reminded that both sides of the Taiwan Strait continue to hold different views on “one China.” Under these circumstances, 43.9 percent of respondents said they supported the signing of a peace treaty, while 37.9 percent were not supportive of the plan.
The poll collected 1,009 valid samples and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration is seeking to join an Indo-Pacific economic framework being planned by the US, a senior official said. The government is paying close attention to the regional economic pact being touted by US President Joe Biden, although too few details have emerged from Washington for Taipei to make specific plans, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The US is expected to launch the Indo-Pacific economic framework next month after negotiations with Australia, India and Japan, the official said. The economic initiative is to tackle trade facilitation, standards for the digital economy and technology, supply-chain resiliency and
PIVOTAL ROLE: Taiwan’s importance in the global chip supply chain can be bolstered by domestic equipment manufacturing, President Tsai Ing-wen said Efforts must be made to better secure Taiwan’s place in the global supply chain by localizing production of equipment and facilities used by the semiconductor industry, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday. Tsai discussed the issue during a meeting with representatives from the Taiwan Electronic Equipment Industry Association at the Presidential Office in Taipei. Product shortages throughout the COVID-19 pandemic — particularly of automotive chips — highlighted the pivotal role of Taiwan in the global supply chain, she said. Tsai thanked the association for cooperating with the government on the shared goal of localizing production of important semiconductor industry equipment.
SEPARATE CASE? A woman tested positive when she went with her daughter to be tested, because her daughter had taken the same bus to school as a steakhouse worker The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 10 local COVID-19 cases, six of whom had visited a steakhouse in Taoyuan where an infection cluster has been reported. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that of the 10 local infections, one case — No. 17,928 — is a Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport disease prevention staffer who works in the area where inbound travelers collect their saliva for a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, and sometimes at the fever screening station. The staffer had tested negative in a PCR test on Jan. 9 and
TRACING UNDER WAY: The CECC has identified six transmission chains among 25 recently confirmed COVID-19 cases, including those linked to a restaurant and a bank The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 54 new COVID-19 infections — 44 imported and 10 local — and identified six transmission chains among local cases. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the imported cases are 18 who tested positive upon arrival at the airport and 26 who tested positive during quarantine. Of the local cases, seven are associated with a cluster infection at a Tasty Steak (西堤牛排) outlet in Taoyuan’s Zhongli District (中壢), one is linked to a family of four with COVID-19 reported on Monday, one is a family member of an
RSS