More than 64 percent of people polled in a Taiwan Indicator Survey Research (TISR) poll are opposed to eventual unification with China, while 19.5 percent are for it, results showed on Friday.
The survey was conducted on Monday and Tuesday, and followed the historic meeting between Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) in the Chinese city of Nanjing on Feb. 11. The occasion marked the first time in 65 years that government ministers from across the Taiwan Strait held talks in their official capacities.
The TISR poll showed that 61.6 percent of respondents think the council and the TAO should hold regular talks, while 37.6 percent felt that Wang and Zhang addressing each other by their official titles did not constitute official recognition of either government’s sovereign status, compared with 36.8 percent who felt otherwise.
Asked whether Taiwan should declare independence and become a new country, 47.8 percent of participants in the survey said they were in favor of ultimate independence, with 34.1 percent against.
The poll also sought to gauge the level of trust Taiwanese feel toward Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). It found that 17.7 percent of respondents said they trust Xi, while 51.4 percent said they do not.
After cross-analyzing the results to surmise the views of respondents between 20 and 29 years old, TISR general manager Tai Li-an (戴立安) said that the proportion of those opposed to eventual unification rose as high as 82 percent, compared with 64 percent overall.
In addition, more than 68 percent of 20-to-29-year-olds polled were in favor of ultimate independence, while 76.3 percent distrusted Xi, the results showed.
Friday’s results showed a 17 percentage point increase in those who distrust Xi, compared with polls conducted in March last year.
In an interview with Xinhua news agency on Friday, Zhang said Xi “still held strong influence” over Taiwanese due to his long-term, in-depth observation of Taiwan affairs.
Xinhua said this was evident at Xi’s meeting with former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) earlier this week, during which the Chinese president called on Taiwanese to help reinvigorate “zhonghua minzu (中華民族) and reinstate the ‘Chinese Dream’” in language familiar to them.
The TISR poll also asked respondents about the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) chairmanship election in May.
It found that 41.3 percent thought former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would be the most capable of ameliorating relations between the party and China, while 21.1 percent said they would vote for DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and 9.3 percent for former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷).
The survey collected 1,004 valid samples and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique