A record number of people in the nation now regard themselves as “Taiwanese,” rather than “Chinese,” a survey released on Friday by National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center showed.
A record 67 percent of the population identify as “Taiwanese,” while only 2.4 percent consider themselves to be “Chinese,” the center said, citing the survey’s findings.
The center has been conducting the survey once or twice a year since June 1992, and uses the data to study trends in the self-identity of Taiwanese, it said.
The most recent results represented an 8.5 percentage point increase in those identifying as “Taiwanese,” up from 58.5 percent, and a 3.3 percentage point decrease in those identifying as “Chinese,” down from 5.7 percent, in June last year.
The results showed that 27.5 percent of respondents consider themselves to be both “Taiwanese” and “Chinese,” down from 34.7 percent last year.
Those surveyed who would advocate Taiwanese independence — if pressed to choose that or unification — also increased, rising from 15.1 percent in 2018 to 27.7 percent this year, the center said, adding that a separate 7.4 percent hoped for independence “as soon as possible.”
Those wanting to “maintain the ‘status quo’ for now” accounted for 28.7 percent, while those hoping that the “status quo” could be maintained in perpetuity accounted for 23.6 percent.
Those wanting to “unify with China as soon as possible” accounted for 0.7 percent.
Asked which political party they supported, 36.8 percent said the Democratic Progressive Party — the highest since the center began the surveys — while 15.8 percent said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) — the lowest since the start of the center’s surveys.
While 5.3 percent expressed support for the Taiwan People’s Party and 3.3 percent for the New Power Party, at 37.8 percent expressed a politically neutral stance and favored no particular party.
Asked about the survey yesterday, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that an increase in Taiwanese national consciousness was “a matter of course,” and that “with an enemy at the nation’s doors, the people were bound to unite.”
All Taiwanese share the same fate and are “one people under one nation” that would face threats together, he said.
Su gave the example of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that everyone in Taiwan kept pace, and supported containment and prevention measures.
“Only by coming together can we stay strong and make progress,” Su added.
Additional reporting by Tsai Chang-sheng
SOURED RELATIONS: Program director Jennifer Liu said the move to Taipei was due to a ‘perceived lack of friendliness’ from Beijing Language and Culture University Harvard University is to relocate its summer Mandarin program from Beijing to National Taiwan University (NTU) starting next year, a student publication reported on Thursday last week. Run at Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) since 2004, the Harvard Beijing Academy is to become the Harvard Taipei Academy once it moves to Taiwan, Crimson magazine reported. Program director Jennifer Liu (劉力嘉) attributed the decision to a “perceived lack of friendliness” from the Chinese university, potentially due to shifting political winds. Liu told the magazine that BLCU in recent years had failed to provide a single dorm for the students or separate accommodation of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday issued a rebuttal to former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, who said a fistfight in the Legislative Yuan might have been “provoked from the outside” to destabilize Taiwan. Rice made the comment in an online discussion about the AUKUS alliance of Australia, the UK and the US hosted by the Policy Exchange forum in London on Thursday. On mention of Taiwan, she was quoted by The Australian as predicting that Beijing would use paramilitary forces and acts of sabotage to destabilize the nation. “There was a fistfight in the Taiwanese parliament a few weeks ago
ADVANCING TECH: With revenue on target to reach US$15.4 billion, the Hsinchu-based chipmaker said it is looking to produce 3-nanometer chips later this year Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday announced plans to build a new plant in Japan next year to produce 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer chips in its latest effort to expand its global manufacturing footprint. The Japanese fab is to start operations in 2024, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker said, ending months of speculation. “We have received strong commitment to supporting this project from our customers and the Japanese government,” TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told a quarterly investors’ conference. “We believe the expansion of our global manufacturing footprint will enable us to better serve our customers’ needs and reach global talent,
KNOWN ISSUES: Fire safety issues were found in the 40-year-old building, which previously housed a theater and restaurants, in 2019, last year and May, an official said Forty-six people died and 41 were injured in a building fire that raged out of control for hours overnight in Kaohsiung, authorities said yesterday. Flames and smoke billowed from the lower floors of the 13-story Cheng Chung Cheng (城中城) building on Fubei Road in Yancheng District (鹽埕), as firefighters tried to douse the blaze from the street and aerial platforms. The death toll rose steadily through the day as rescue workers searched the combined commercial and residential building. By late afternoon, authorities said 32 bodies had been found, while a further 14 people who showed no signs of life were among 55
RSS