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.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or