A mere 9.3 percent of the Taiwanese public find China trustworthy, and 82.7 percent think that the Chinese threat has intensified over the years, a survey released on Monday by Academia Sinica showed.
In the poll conducted from Sept. 14 to 19, the Institute of European and American Studies asked 1,211 Taiwanese adults about US-Taiwan-China relations, the effectiveness of the US’ security commitment, their perception of the “status quo,” and Taiwan’s economic and national security.
Compared with 13.5 percent in 2021, the latest survey showed that only 9.3 percent of respondents believed China was a trustworthy country, while 26.4 percent disagreed and 57.6 percent said they strongly disagreed.
Photo: Reuters
At the same time, the number of respondents who believed the US was trustworthy also tumbled from 45.35 percent in 2021 to 33.9 percent, while 55.3 percent deemed the US not trustworthy.
Pan Hsin-hsin (潘欣欣), an assistant professor at Soochow University’s Department of Sociology, attributed the decline in trust to the US’ reaction to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Washington’s response to the Russian invasion gave Taiwanese an insight into how the US might react should a war break out between Taiwan and China, Pan said.
The survey also showed that 55.7 percent of respondents agreed that the US has been stepping up measures to guarantee Taiwan’s safety over the past few years.
Moreover, 64.4 percent supported regular patrols and flybys of US military ships and planes through the Taiwan Strait, while 65.4 percent believed the US president’s pledge to protect Taiwan.
Meanwhile, 59.6 percent of respondents believed that visits by top US officials to Taiwan enhances the possibility of US forces assisting Taiwan when needed.
The survey also showed that 44.6 percent of respondents supported the idea that Taiwan’s semiconductor industry serves as a “silicon shield” and that the chip shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which could prompt the US to send forces to assist Taiwan, Academia Sinica assistant researcher James Lee (李語堂) said.
However, 47.9 percent of respondents thought otherwise, the survey showed.
As for Taiwan’s status, the vast majority of respondents, at 91.4 percent, supported maintaining the “status quo.”
More than half of respondents thought of the country’s name as the “Republic of China” or the “Republic of China (Taiwan).”
With regard to identity, 62.5 percent considered themselves Taiwanese, 2.3 percent thought of themselves as Chinese and 32.2 percent identified as both.
The survey was conducted by the Election Study Center at National Chengchi University via telephone interviews.
‘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
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
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
RSS