More than 70 percent of Taiwanese believe the government should develop initiatives for rewarding talent and enhancing local industries as a response to China’s 31 incentives for Taiwanese, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday.
A survey conducted by National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center showed that 88.9 percent of respondents thought the government should communicate with the public about its approach before conducting any cross-strait exchanges that might affect the public’s rights, and 69.9 percent believed the government should improve regulations on cross-strait exchanges to safeguard the nation.
In addition, 80.9 percent of respondents believed to maintain a better long-term relationship, cross-strait talks should not be based on any prerequisites, the council said.
It said that 82.2 percent of respondents support holding cross-strait exchange events that exclude political factors, allow both sides to maintain their dignity and are in line with regulations.
The poll showed that 84.4 percent of respondents believed that Taiwan and China should maintain a positive relationship and refrain from using threats or non-peaceful means, the council said.
Furthermore, 66.9 percent said that Chinese attempts to prevent Taiwan from participating in international events were not constructive to developing a positive cross-strait relationship, it added.
The poll showed that 85.6 percent agreed that the future of Taiwan and cross-strait relations must be collectively decided by the 23 million Taiwanese, it said.
However, it also showed that the majority of Taiwanese — 84.8 percent — support “maintaining the ‘status quo,’” it said.
The government will do its best to maintain peace across the Taiwan Strait and protect the public’s rights, the council said.
Maintaining a good relationship requires work on both sides, it said, adding that while Taiwan would continue to seek ways to collaborate with China, the latter should also refrain from using threats and intimidation.
The survey was conducted on March 28, March 31 and April 2. It interviewed 1,105 Taiwanese aged 20 and above by telephone. It has a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 2.95 percentage points.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
RSS