An opinion poll in a local Chinese-language newspaper showed that Justin Lin's (林毅夫) application to return to Taiwan has caught the attention of the nation. Seventy-eight percent of Taiwanese are aware of the story, the poll showed.
Sixty-four percent of those who are aware of the issue think that Lin should be allowed to enter Taiwan on humanitarian grounds, while 68 percent believe that the government should make sure that Lin bears full legal responsibility for his defection.
Cross-analysis shows that the proportion of KMT, DPP and PFP supporters who support allowing Lin into the country, is similar -- with the percentages varying from 64 to 68 between the parties.
The majority of people, however, feel that humanitarian grounds and criminal responsibility should be kept separate, and 68 percent think that the government should take the initiative to investigate Lin's defection to China.
Eighteen percent feel that this is unnecessary.
Cross-analysis of the issue shows that more supporters of the KMT and the DPP (both 76 percent) than of the PFP (66 percent) feel that Lin should take legal responsibility for his defection.
If Lin can't be prosecuted because the Statute of Limitations states that prosecutions for treason must be carried out within 20 years of the alleged offense -- Lin allegedly defected in 1979 -- he will still not be able to avoid moral condemnation. Sixty-five percent say they cannot forgive his defection, while 20 percent say they can. Another 14 percent have no opinion.
Regarding this issue, cross-analysis shows that the highest number of people who are unable to forgive Lin are KMT and PFP supporters -- with 82 and 61 percent, respectively.
Seventy-two percent say that Lin should apologize to the people of Taiwan for defecting, while 17 percent say that such an apology is unnecessary and 10 percent have no opinion. Here, supporters of the three parties are in agreement, and more than 80 percent of supporters of each of the three parties feel that Lin should apologize.
The poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percent, was conducted via telephone interviews on Friday evening and included 914 valid responses from adults.
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