Taiwanese’s favorite nation is Singapore, followed by Japan and Canada, while China is their third-least favorite, a survey released yesterday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation found.
When asked about their impression of Singapore, 88.2 percent of the respondents said they have a good impression of the city-state, while 5.4 said they have a negative impression, the poll found.
The survey found that 84.6 percent of respondents have a favorable impression of Japan, while 11 percent have a negative impression of it.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
As for Canada, 82.3 percent of respondents expressed a favorable impression, while 4.2 percent said they have a negative impression of it, the foundation said.
Respondents’ least favorite nation was North Korea, with 70.9 percent of respondents saying they have a negative impression of it, followed by the Philippines (52.9 percent) and China (43.9 percent).
However, Taiwanese’s impression of China has become more positive over the past year, the poll found.
For the first time, more Taiwanese said they have a good impression of China than those who said they have a bad impression of it, the foundation said.
Compared with a similar poll conducted last year, the percentage of respondents with a favorable impression of China rose from 44.4 to 48.8 percent, while the percentage of those with a negative impression of it fell from 47.4 to 43.9 percent, it said.
Nevertheless, 79.1 percent of respondents said China’s attempts to limit Taiwan’s international space are “unreasonable,” while 11.9 percent thought the opposite, the poll found.
When asked if they are confident that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration can defend the nation against such attempts, 32.7 percent said that they are confident, while 60.3 percent said they are not, the poll found.
The public’s views on other nations reflect their expectations for what they hope Taiwan can be, said Chen Yi-chien (陳宜倩), a professor at Shih Hsin University’s Graduate Institute for Gender Studies.
“Taiwanese like Singapore, because they have projected onto the nation their desire for a cleaner and more orderly society,” she said.
While Japan is still the most popular destination for Taiwanese tourists, the “Japan fever,” which swept the nation in the 1990s, has apparently calmed down in the past few years, said Chuang Chia-yin (莊佳穎), an associate professor at National Taiwan Normal University’s Department of Taiwan Culture, Languages and Literature.
In addition to South Korea, China is becoming an important source of culture, entertainment and consumer goods for Taiwan, as more Taiwanese are exposed to Chinese TV shows, such as the Voice of China (中國好聲音), she said, adding that this might have improved the public’s impression of that nation.
The telephone poll, conducted on Monday and Tuesday last week, collected 1,073 valid responses selected by random sampling. It has a margin of error of 2.99 percentage points and a confidence level of 95 percent.
CLOSURES: Several forest recreation areas have been closed as a precaution, while some ferry and flight services have been suspended or rescheduled A land warning for Tropical Storm Danas was issued last night at 8:30pm, as the storm’s outer bands began bringing heavy rain to southeastern regions, including Hualien and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). As of 9:15pm, the storm was approximately 330km west-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, moving north-northeast at 10-20kph, the CWA reported. A sea warning had already been issued at 8:30am yesterday. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 83kph, with gusts of up to 108kph, according to the CWA. As of 9:30pm last night, Kaohsiung, Tainan,
POWERFUL DETERRENT: Precision fire and dispersed deployment of units would allow Taiwanese artillery to inflict heavy casualties in an invasion, a researcher said The nation’s military has boosted its self-defense capability with the establishment of a new company equipped with the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The company, part of the army’s 58th Artillery Command, is Taiwan’s first HIMARS unit. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who presided over the formation ceremony in Taichung on Friday, called the unit a significant addition to the nation’s defensive strength, saying it would help deter adversaries from starting a war. The unit is made up of top-performing soldiers who received training in the US, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The HIMARS can be equipped with
STRONG WINDS: Without the Central Mountain Range as a shield, people should be ready for high-speed winds, CWA weather forecaster Liu Yu-chi said Danas was yesterday upgraded to a typhoon and could grow stronger as it moves closely along the nation’s west coastline, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Hsinchu and Chiayi cities, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Nantou, Chiayi, Penghu and Pingtung counties have canceled work and school today. Work and school in Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Yilan, Taitung, Hualien, Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties would continue as usual, although offices and schools would be closed in Taoyuan’s Luju (蘆竹), Dayuan (大園), Guangyin (觀音) and Sinwu (新屋) districts. As of 5pm yesterday, the typhoon’s
UNILATERAL: The move from China’s aviation authority comes despite a previous 2015 agreement that any changes to flight paths would be done by consensus The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday slammed Beijing for arbitrarily opening the M503 flight route’s W121 connecting path, saying that such unilateral conduct disrespected the consensus between both sides and could destabilize the Taiwan Strait and the wider region. The condemnation came after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) earlier yesterday announced it “has activated the W121 connecting path of the M503 flight route,” meaning that west-to-east flights are now permitted along the path. The newly activated west-to-east route is intended to “alleviate the pressure caused by the increase of flights,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted China’s Taiwan Affairs Office
RSS