More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday.
The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling.
Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s claim that “Taiwan is a part of China’s territory and has never been a country,” while 80.6 percent disagreed with Beijing’s insistence on the “one China” principle.
At the same time, 79.1 percent of respondents supported the view that the Republic of China (ROC) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) do not belong to each other — a position that has remained broadly consistent across previous surveys.
Support for this stance has ranged from about 74 percent to a high of 82.2 percent in May 2022, and has been more prominently expressed in public discourse since President William Lai (賴清德) took office in May last year.
Meanwhile, when asked about the preferred direction for cross-strait relations, more than 85 percent of respondents expressed support for maintaining the “status quo.” This included 36 percent who supported keeping the “status quo” permanently, 25.9 percent who preferred to decide Taiwan’s future at a later time and 19.9 percent who favored maintaining the “status quo” for now, but ultimately favor independence.
The survey also showed growing concern over China’s influence operations in Taiwan. A total of 73.7 percent of respondents believed that Beijing is intensifying its infiltration of Taiwanese society.
It showed that 70.9 supported requiring all elected officials — including lawmakers — to obtain government approval before engaging in exchanges with China.
In addition, 56.9 percent of respondents said that when Chinese nationals apply to enter Taiwan, the government should take into account whether they are connected to China’s “unification” efforts.
The survey also touched on recent controversies, including the revocation of residency permits for two Chinese spouses of Taiwanese citizens who advocated for China using force to annex Taiwan. On this issue, 67.8 percent of respondents voiced support for the government’s decision to revoke their permits and deport them.
Meanwhile, 70.9 percent of respondents said that they view Beijing as “unfriendly” toward Taipei, compared with only 15.5 percent who considered it “friendly.”
The survey was conducted by National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center via telephone interviews from Thursday last week to Monday. It collected 1,099 valid samples from respondents aged 20 or older and had a margin of error of 2.96 percentage points.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS