A survey conducted by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) found that 84 percent of respondents supported the government’s appeal to reverse the cancelation of the first East Asian Youth Games in Taichung next year.
Only 7 percent of respondents said they disagreed with such efforts.
Support for the appeal crossed party lines, with 97.4 percent of respondents who identified as pan-green in favor, as well as 78.3 percent of independents and 79.5 percent of those in the pan-blue camp.
The East Asian Olympic Committee on Wednesday last week canceled Taichung’s right to host the Games at the suggestion of its Chinese representatives, who said that a proposed referendum to change the name of Taiwan’s national sports team at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics from “Chinese Taipei” to “Taiwan” could cause political uncertainty.
A total of 68.4 percent of respondents knew about the incident, DPP Deputy Secretary-General Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said.
About 60 percent of respondents expressed anger over the revocation of Taichung’s right to host the East Asian Youth Games due to China’s interference, Hsu said, adding that 25.8 percent did not.
Asked who should be blamed for the cancelation, 54.8 percent of respondents said China should be condemned for using the event to oppress Taiwan, but 25.9 percent said that the Taiwanese government should be blamed for not recognizing the so-called “1992 consensus,” she said.
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
A total of 84.9 percent of respondents who identified as pan-green and 43.6 percent of independents cast blame on China, while 55.7 percent of those who identified as pan-blue blamed the government for refusing to recognize the “1992 consensus,” Hsu said.
The survey found that 29.8 percent of respondents felt that the Chinese government is friendly toward Taiwanese, a 15 percentage point decrease from a survey in March, while those who said Beijing is not friendly toward Taiwanese rose 12 percentage points to 56.7 percent.
Respondents with a favorable opinion of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) also dropped by 13 percentage points to 25.3 percent, while those who disliked Xi increased 9 percentage points to 45.7 percent, the survey showed.
“The DPP has insisted on interacting with China in a reasonable, peaceful and equal manner. We have kept our promise and our goodwill, and will not succumb to pressure from Beijing,” Hsu said. “The rise of China should make other nations in the region feel safe, not intimidated.”
Chinese leaders “should understand that Taiwan has the support of European countries and the US,” she said.
The survey was conducted from Wednesday to Sunday last week, collected responses from people 20 or older and has a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 2.9 percent.
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