The latest poll by National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center showed a record-low 9.1 percent of respondents support unification with China, and a record-low 3.3 percent regard themselves as Chinese.
The poll is part of a study that has been ongoing since 1992 on political attitudes, including on the unification-independence issue, national identity and political party preference.
The latest figures, gathered last month, showed that 59 percent of respondents identify themselves as Taiwanese, a slight drop from 60.6 percent in December last year.
The poll found 33.7 percent of respondents said they are both Taiwanese and Chinese, increasing slightly from 32.5 percent last year, and those identifying themselves as solely Chinese dropped to a historical low of 3.3 percent.
The poll found 21.1 percent of respondents said they support Taiwanese independence or would favor an immediate declaration of independence, lower than 23.9 percent last year.
The number of people who support unification or lean toward immediate unification reached a historical low of 9.1 percent.
Support for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has risen from 26.7 percent last year to a record-high 29.7 percent, while support for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) dropped from 22.9 percent last year to 21 percent, its lowest since 2003.
Support for the People First Party increased from 2.7 percent last year to 3.9 percent this year, the highest since 2006.
Saying that the data showed the long-term tendency of Taiwanese core attitudes and identifications, DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said the percentage of people who identify themselves as Taiwanese has soared from 48.4 percent in 2008 to 59 percent this year due to a series of pro-China policies launched by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) since he took office in 2008.
The number of people who regard themselves as Chinese has fallen from 4 percent in 2008 to 3.3 percent this year and has yet to hit the bottom, which shows that the Taiwanese do not want Taiwan to be a part of China, Lee said.
Support for the KMT has plummeted from the historical high of 39.5 percent in 2011 to 21 percent this year, while support for the DPP has steadily climbed from 19.5 percent in 2009 to 29.7 percent this year, he said.
The rise and fall are the results of the KMT’s poor performance and the DPP’s ability to put forward clear policies and define the direction of reform, such as the proposal of developing renewable resources to bring about a nuclear-free homeland and an elaborated platform of the long-term care to provide for the aging population, he said.
However, the KMT and the Ma administration have turned their backs on public opinion, which is evident in a forceful implementation of a set of high-school curriculum guidelines that critics said are unprofessional and historically incorrect, while the government insists on pressing charges against students who stormed the headquarters of the Ministry of Education in Taipei on Thursday to protest against the curriculum, Lee 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
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
REWRITING HISTORY: China has been advocating a ‘correct’ interpretation of the victory over Japan that brings the CCP’s contributions to the forefront, an expert said An elderly Chinese war veteran’s shin still bears the mark of a bullet wound he sustained when fighting the Japanese as a teenager, a year before the end of World War II. Eighty years on, Li Jinshui’s scar remains as testimony to the bravery of Chinese troops in a conflict that killed millions of their people. However, the story behind China’s overthrow of the brutal Japanese occupation is deeply contested. Historians broadly agree that credit for victory lies primarily with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-led Republic of China (ROC) Army. Its leader, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a
RSS