About two-thirds of Taiwanese do not identify as Chinese, a survey released on Tuesday showed.
The US-based Pew Research Center found that 66 percent view themselves as Taiwanese, 28 percent as both Taiwanese and Chinese ,and 4 percent as just Chinese.
The telephone poll of 1,562 people, conducted last year, has a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.
Photo: AFP
The results are consistent with other polls showing that people in Taiwan increasingly identify only as Taiwanese, Pew said.
Younger generations in particular have developed a distinct identity, with 83 percent of respondents younger than 30 saying that they do not consider themselves Chinese, the survey showed.
Alexander Huang (黃介正), an associate professor in Tamkang University’s Department of Diplomacy and International Relations, said that it is a question of politics, not ethnic background.
Younger Taiwanese grew up in a democracy, while China is a one-party state, he said.
Another factor, is the diplomatic pressure that China puts on Taiwan and the military exercises it conducts in Taiwan’s vicinity, Huang said.
“We are ethnic Chinese for sure, but politically, I think that’s the big difference,” he said. “It is quite understandable that people don’t want to be identified as Chinese.”
In addition, about 2.3 percent of Taiwanese are members of indigenous groups not ethnically Chinese.
The Pew survey found that about 60 percent of Taiwanese have an unfavorable view of China. While 52 percent support closer economic ties with China, only 36 percent favor closer political ties.
Conversely, more than two-thirds have a favorable view of the US, with 79 percent supporting closer political ties.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2