Following recent meetings between former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Chinese leaders and their joint advocacy of a “one China” policy, a Want Want China Times Group-owned polling firm yesterday called for more emphasis on Chinese national identity in media coverage.
Representatives from the polling firm, Apollo Survey and Research Co Ltd, and Taiwan Competitiveness Forum, a think tank led by academics known for their pro-unification stance, yesterday released a survey asking Taiwanese about their perception of connections with China.
Describing the results of the survey as “astonishing,” they said that respondents showed a “very high degree of identification with China, Chinese and Zhonghua minzu (中華民族, Chinese ethnic group),” adding that media outlets should not make an issue of whether people in Taiwan identify themselves as Taiwanese, but should focus on Taiwanese identification with China.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Chiu Yuan-bao (邱源寶), an Apollo executive, said the results of the survey were in sharp contrast with those conducted by National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center on behalf of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) over the past 20 years.
“This was the first survey of its kind, but we will continue to monitor whether there has been a major shift in national identity toward China,” Chiu said.
The survey showed that 90.4 percent of respondents gave a positive answer to a question asking them if they thought they were members of Zhonghua minzu who share common kinship, language, history and culture.
Asked if they are Chinese, 61.1 percent of respondents said yes, 35.4 percent said no and 3.6 percent did not have an opinion, the survey showed.
On a question in which respondents were given four choices, 25.6 percent said they are Taiwanese and also Chinese, 12.7 percent said they are Taiwanese but could also be Chinese, 28.2 percent said they are Taiwanese but do not deny that they are also Chinese, and 29.2 percent said they are Taiwanese and are not Chinese.
Asked “how they defined ‘one China’ under China’s assertion that Taiwan and China belong to one China and are both part of China,” 31.1 percent defined “one China” as Zhonghua minzu, 21.8 percent said “one China” refers to the Republic of China (ROC), 5.3 percent said it referred it to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and 31.1 percent found the concept of “one China” unacceptable.
Meanwhile, asked “how they defined ‘one China’ under President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) assertion that it refers to the so-called ‘1992 consensus,’ which means ‘one China, with each side having its own interpretation,’” 34 percent defined “one China” as Zhonghua minzu, 23.7 percent said “one China” refers to the ROC, 4.7 percent said it is the PRC and 26.8 percent opposed the concept of “one China.”
The survey found that 67.4 percent of respondents thought that China should be seen more as an opportunity than a threat, while 25.7 percent thought the opposite.
Among those who view China as an opportunity, 14.9 percent said Taiwan should actively engage China, while 52.2 percent said Taiwan should engage China with caution.
In the group that sees China as a threat, 18.7 percent said that Taiwan should be cautious in dealing with China, and 7.2 percent opposed engagement with China.
The survey was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday nights last week by telephone with a random sampling of 1,092 people nationwide and a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
When the first survey about Taiwanese national identity was released by the MAC in 1992, 46.4 percent of respondents identified themselves as both Taiwanese and Chinese, 25.2 percent as Chinese and 17.6 percent as Taiwanese.
The latest MAC survey released in December showed that the percentage of respondents who said they are both Taiwanese and Chinese decreased to 38.5 percent, while those who said they are Taiwanese rose to 54.3 percent. Only 3.65 percent said they are Chinese.
More than 20 years of democratic development has made most people identify with Taiwan, said Thomas Peng (彭錦鵬), a National Taiwan University political scientist.
“There’s no point in asking a person if he or she is a Taiwanese or suspecting one’s loyalty to Taiwan. On the contrary, media should place more emphasis on Chinese identity, the ROC and Zhonghua minzu because the survey has found that the belief that culture and kinship ties play an undeniable role in cross-strait relations is ingrained in society,” Peng said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
RSS