A year after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) returned to power, a new survey found that the number of people identifying themselves exclusively as either Taiwanese or Chinese has fallen slightly, while people calling themselves both Taiwanese and Chinese rose by 3 percent.
The Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC) yesterday published its latest survey on political and ethnic views.
The survey showed that 64.6 percent of respondents identified themselves as Taiwanese, 11.5 percent considered themselves Chinese, while 18.1 percent called themselves both Taiwanese and Chinese.
The same survey in April last year showed that 67.1 percent identified themselves as Taiwanese, 13.6 percent considered themselves Chinese, and 15.2 percent called themselves both Taiwanese and Chinese.
On the KMT government’s performance, 49.3 percent of respondents were dissatisfied, while the approval rate stood at 34.9 percent.
For the Democratic Progressive Party, however, 67.3 percent of respondents expressed disillusionment, while 16.7 percent were satisfied with the party’s performance.
On ethnic issues, 52.9 percent of respondents said that Taiwan does not have serious ethnic problems, a decline from 56.7 percent in last year’s survey, while 33.7 percent of respondents said ethnic disputes were a serious problem, about the same level as last year’s 33.2 percent.
The survey indicated that 58.9 percent of respondents attributed ethnic discord to manipulation by politicians for the sake of party interests, down from 67.6 percent, while 15.3 percent said that the issue has historical origins, down from 16.4 percent a year ago.
The poll found people were divided over whether the country will experience more serious ethnic problems — with 30.4 percent saying it would, 47.7 percent saying it would not and 4.9 percent saying things would stay the same.
The survey indicated that the ethnic background of candidates may not be a deciding factor in elections.
The survey showed that 14.4 percent of the respondents said they would consider voting or not voting for a specific candidate because of his or her ethnicity, down from 18.7 percent in last year’s survey, while 79.1 percent of respondents said that ethnicity was not a driving factor in who they voted for, up from 78.8 percent a year ago.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aware that Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong has weakened any possible sentiment for a “one country, two systems” arrangement for Taiwan, and has instructed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧) to develop new ways of defining cross-strait relations, Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. A former professor of international politics at Fu Dan University, Wang is expected to develop a dialogue that could serve as the foundation for cross-strait unification, and Xi plans to use the framework to support a fourth term as president, Nikkei Asia quoted an anonymous source
LUCKY DATE: The man picked the 10th ‘Super Red Envelope’ in a lottery store in Taoyuan’s Jhongli because he broke up with his girlfriend on Jan. 10 A man who recently broke up with his girlfriend won a NT$1 million (US$32,929) prize in the “NT$20 million Super Red Envelope” lottery after picking a card based on the date of their breakup, Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The man, in his 20s, bought the 10th ticket at a lottery store in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢), because he broke up with his girlfriend on Jan. 10, the store owner told the lottery company. The “Super Red Envelope” lottery was a limited offering by the company during the Lunar New Year holiday, which ended yesterday. The cards, which cost NT$2,000 each, came with
TOURISM BOOST: The transportation system could help attract more visitors to the area, as the line is to connect multiple cultural sites, a city councilor said Residents in New Taipei City’s Ankeng District (安坑) said the local light rail system might have a positive influence, but raised questions about its practicality. The Ankeng light rail system, which is to commence operations after the Lunar New Year holiday, would cut travel time for commuters from Ankeng to downtown Taipei or New Taipei City by 15 to 20 minutes, the city government said. According to the initial plan, there would be one train every 15 minutes during peak time and additional interval trains would run between the densely populated Ankang Station (安康) and Shisizhang Station (十 四張). To encourage people to
CHAMPION TREES: The team used light detection and ranging imaging to locate the tree, and found that it measured a height of 84.1m and had a girth of 8.5m A team committed to finding the tallest trees in the nation yesterday said that an 84.1m tall Taiwania cryptomerioides tree had been named the tallest tree in Taiwan and East Asia. The Taiwan Champion Trees, a team consisting of researchers from the Council of Agriculture’s Taiwan Forestry Research Institute and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), in June last year used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imaging to find the giant tree, numbered 55214, upstream of the Daan River (大安溪). A 20-member expedition team led by Rebecca Hsu (徐嘉君), an assistant researcher at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, set out to find the
RSS