The nation is divided over accepting refugees, giving foreign aid and other measures intended to increase international participation in the face of Chinese-imposed diplomatic isolation, according to the results of a poll released yesterday by the Association of Foreign Relations.
More than 37 percent of respondents said they were opposed to accepting any refugees, while about 40 percent supported accepting some refugees and 10 percent supported accepting larger numbers, the poll showed.
Most of the 10 percent of respondents who refused to answer were likely opposed to accepting any refugees, choosing not to answer because of a social acceptability bias, association secretary-general Huang Kwei-bo (黃奎博) said, adding that the results should give the central government “food for thought.”
“There is some ‘not in my backyard’ effect for refugees, just as there might be for a garbage dump or nuclear plant,” he said.
The poll also found only tepid support for providing international aid, with more than 44 percent of respondents saying they have no opinion when asked how the nation should contribute to the international community.
Only 10 percent of respondents said that the nation should provide economic aid, while 9 percent supported providing humanitarian aid.
Respondents were divided over the question whether the international community supported Taiwan’s participation in major international organizations, with 38 percent of respondents saying that the international community is supportive and 40 percent saying that it is not.
“Respondents with pan-blue tendencies were relatively likely to believe that the international community is not supportive,” Huang said. “The key appears to be China — pan-blue respondents view China as leading the international community in opposing our entry, while pan-green respondents feel that the international community is supportive, but is compelled by China [to exclude Taiwan].”
More than 56 percent of respondents said that providing economic aid to other nations in exchange for the maintenance of formal diplomatic ties was not cost effective.
Division between pan-green and pan-blue respondents was also apparent when questioned about which nation was most friendly to Taiwan, with pan-green supporters strongly inclined toward Japan.
Overall, 35 percent of respondents said Japan is the nation that is most friendly toward Taiwan, more than double the 15 percent who opted for the US, the second-most popular nation.
When asked which nation helped Taiwan’s economy the most, 25.8 percent of respondents said China and 23.4 percent said the US, even though China was widely cited as the nation posing the greatest threat to Taiwan’s economic development, with 62 percent of respondents selecting it over any other nation.
More than 59 percent of respondents chose the US as the nation contributing the most to Taiwan’s security versus 4.9 percent for China and 3.8 percent for Japan.
The random telephone survey was conducted in late June, with an effective sample size of 1,140 and a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS