A survey released yesterday suggested that nearly 70 percent of respondents think Taiwan and China are two separate countries and that less than 10 percent think that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to “a divided Republic of China [ROC].”
The survey, conducted by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research (TISR), showed that 69.7 percent believe that Taiwan and China are “two countries with separate development,” 9.6 percent think that both sides belong to “a divided ROC” and 2.4 percent see the two as belonging to “a divided People’s Republic of China [PRC].” A further 18.2 percent had no opinion, the survey showed.
Given a choice of how they would like the international media to refer to the country, “Taiwan” ranked first at 78.9 percent, followed by the ROC at 72.5 percent, “Chinese Taipei” at 25.8 percent and “Taiwan, China” at 6.5 percent; 3.7 percent had no answer.
The survey also showed that if Beijing recognized the existence of the ROC, Taiwanese attitudes toward eventual independence or unification would likely show significant changes.
A total of 73.3 percent of respondents said it would be unnecessary for Taiwan to change its national title or declare independence if China recognized the ROC, while 13.5 percent said it would still be necessary and 13.1 percent declined to answer, the survey showed.
In response to a similar question, 31.2 percent of respondents said they agreed that Taiwan and China should establish an alliance or move toward merging into a new country if the PRC recognized the ROC, while 42.6 percent disagreed and 25.2 percent had no opinion.
In the previous TISR poll in August, 52.3 percent of respondents said they favored Taiwan’s eventual independence and 20.5 percent of respondents envisioned that both sides should seek eventual unification, TISR general manager Tai Li-an (戴立安) said.
It seems that the public’s attitude toward independence and unification could change significantly — about a 10 to 20 percent shift — if Beijing softened its hawkish position on the legitimacy of the ROC, Tai said.
Another question found that 23.7 percent of those polled said they would trust the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) more if the party renounced its attempt to change the nation’s name and seek independence, while 51 percent said their impression about the DPP would be the same, 6.9 percent said they would not trust the DPP as much and 18.3 percent had no opinion.
The survey, conducted from Monday to Wednesday, collected 1,009 valid samples and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
SIXTEEN LOCAL: Three COVID-19 infections are linked to a cluster at a gambling house in Yilan County, 10 to a case in New Taipei City and three had unclear sources The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday urged people to increase vigilance and thoroughly practice preventive measures against COVID-19 as it reported 16 locally transmitted cases of the disease. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that 21 cases were confirmed in Taiwan yesterday: 16 local cases, four imported cases and one case undetermined. The locally transmitted cases are three linked to a cluster of infections at a gambling house in Yilan County, 10 associated with a previous case in New Taipei City and three with unclear sources of infection. The CECC on Tuesday reported a cluster
ENFORCING CAUTION: Certain entertainment facilities are to close nationwide to prevent people traveling there from high-risk areas in the north, the center said The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday raised the COVID-19 alert for Taipei and New Taipei City to level 3 in light of surging cases in the two cities. The enhanced disease prevention measures for level 3 are to be implemented until May 28, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, told a morning news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei. With 180 locally transmitted cases confirmed yesterday, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that the government must take immediate action to protect the public, referring to measures stipulated in the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法). Other counties
TRACING TROUBLE: An infected man who had said that all his children were abroad was found to have a daughter in Kaohsiung who tested positive, the center said The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported a new daily record of 29 local COVID-19 cases, including seven cases with unknown sources of infection. Of the 29 cases, 16 are linked to tea houses in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, told a news briefing in Taipei. The 16 are tea house workers or visitors, or their contacts, the CECC said. Workers and visitors to the establishments have frequent interpersonal contact, but few protective measures against the COVID-19 pandemic are in place, Chen said, urging those who have been exposed or have
GRID PROBLEM: A Taipower spokesman said that the blackouts were not due to usage exceeding supply, nor were they because of a problem at the Singda plant There were rolling blackouts across Taiwan yesterday due to a grid malfunction at the Singda Power Plant (興達電廠) in Kaohsiung’s Yongan District (永安), while Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said that it was working “as hard as possible to resolve the issue as soon as possible.” At 2:37pm, a malfunction at an ultra-high-voltage substation in Kaohsiung’s Lujhu District (路竹) triggered four generators at the Singda plant to go offline, cutting power output by 2.2 million kilowatts and prompting Taipower to initiate rolling blackouts nationwide as it worked on the problem. Taipower spokesman Chang Ting-shu (張廷抒) told a news conference in Taipei that
RSS