Most Taiwanese, or 72.5 percent, are willing to fight for the nation in the event that China uses force to achieve unification, a poll released yesterday by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy found.
However, asked whether they would fight against China if it attacked after Taiwan declared independence, the percentage of respondents who said they would fight fell to 62.7 percent, while 26.7 percent said they would not fight and 10.6 percent had no response, foundation president Huang Yu-lin (黃玉霖) told a news conference in Taipei hosted by the government-affiliated foundation.
The results suggest that the proportion of Taiwanese opposing unification is larger than those advocating Taiwanese independence, said Eric Yu (俞振華), a research fellow at National Chengchi University’s (NCCU) Election Study Center.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
A breakdown of the responses by age group showed that young people are more willing to defend the nation against a Chinese invasion, he said.
Showed the statement: “There might be some problems with democracy, but it remains the best system available,” 75.3 percent of respondents agreed, while 14.1 percent disagreed.
The results showed that 53.2 percent of respondents are satisfied with Taiwan’s democratic practices, while 40.6 percent are dissatisfied, with respondents in their 20s being the most satisfied, and those aged 60 or older the most dissatisfied.
More than half of the respondents, or 55.3 percent, are optimistic about the future of Taiwan’s democratic politics, while 36.5 percent are pessimistic, the poll showed.
Young people in Taiwan appear more confident about democracy, a trend that runs counter to the findings in many Western countries, where young people tend to distrust democracy, due to inequality and other social problems, Yu said.
Nostalgia over the nation’s authoritarian regime, which many older Taiwanese seem to have, might account for their having less faith in democracy, he added.
Compared with previous surveys conducted by the foundation, as well as Academia Sinica polls, support for democracy in Taiwan has been rising since last year, which might be due to growing unease toward China because of its increased pressure on the nation, Academia Sinica Institute of Sociology Director Jay Chen (陳志柔) said.
Further discussion might be needed as to what constitutes “Taiwanese independence,” the main point of contention between Beijing and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government over the past few years, he said.
While most Taiwanese are willing to fight for the nation when it is threatened, more discussion is needed about war preparations and “all-out defense,” subjects less explored by the public, Chen said.
Asked about their political affiliation, 43.7 percent of respondents said they are independent or that circumstances change their preference, 26.3 percent identify with the DPP, 16.7 percent with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and 7.7 percent with the Taiwan People’s Party, while the rest affiliated with other political parties or had no response.
The poll, conducted from Aug. 10 to 15 by the NCCU Election Study Center, collected 1,299 valid responses — 874 via landline phone interviews and 425 via mobile phone interviews.
It has a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 2.72 percentage points.
This story has been amended since it was first published.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS