A public opinion poll has shown that more than half of respondents feel that China and the US should be a priority in terms of Taiwan’s foreign relations, but younger people tended to favor China as the priority, a public opinion poll showed.
“The result appears to reflect Taiwanese people’s pragmatism,” Taiwan Indicator Survey Research (TISR) general manager Tai Li-an (戴立安) said in a press release yesterday.
Asked whether China or the US should be higher on the priority list of Taiwan’s foreign relations, 17.2 percent of those polled favored China, while 15.4 percent of the respondents favored the US.
However, 56 percent of respondents added that the priority should reflect whatever issues are at stake.
Citing detailed data compiled by TISR, Tai said that the age of 45 appeared to be a dividing line, with people younger tending to favor China, while those over 45 favored the US.
The survey, conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday, focused on the Chinese Communist Party’s National Congress and the recently concluded US presidential election.
The poll found that 51.8 percent of those polled said they paid a lot of attention to the Beijing event, but 73.4 percent of the respondents could not name Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平) as the next Chinese president.
Asked about outgoing Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) achievements in relation to cross-strait peace, respondents said that Hu had failed to impress, with an average score of 58.1 points.
Exactly half of the respondents supported any efforts that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) may take in seeking to sign a peace treaty with Beijing before he concludes his second term, while 32.8 percent disagreed with the plan and 17.1 percent said they had no opinion on the matter.
However, support for Ma dropped after respondents were reminded that both sides of the Taiwan Strait continue to hold different views on “one China.” Under these circumstances, 43.9 percent of respondents said they supported the signing of a peace treaty, while 37.9 percent were not supportive of the plan.
The poll collected 1,009 valid samples and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
Tainan City Councilor Lu Kun-fu (盧崑福) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday sparked further controversy when he echoed remarks by KMT caucus whip Alex Fai (費鴻泰) that Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) should be executed for an increase in domestic COVID-19 cases. Chen heads the Central Epidemic Command Center. Lu at a question-and-answer session at the Tainan City Council said that a lapse in disease prevention measures at China Airlines, which has led to a cluster infection, could have been controlled. However, as the airline’s pilots were allowed a shortened quarantine period of three days and were placed
SUFFICIENT SUPPLY: Taiwan has an abundance of pandemic-related goods in storage, and protocols have been implemented to ensure that the supply chain is not broken Hordes of customers descended on hypermarkets and supermarkets in Taipei and New Taipei City after the government yesterday raised the COVID-19 alert level for the two municipalities to level 3 until May 28. Earlier in the day, the Central Epidemic Command Center reported 180 new domestically transmitted cases, most of them in Taipei and New Taipei City. Despite the government urging the public to stop hoarding daily necessities, shelves were stripped bare while cashiers were working as fast as they could. Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) at a news conference on Friday detailed the government’s inventory of masks, medical-grade isopropyl alcohol and protective clothing,
EYES AND EARS: The navy has commissioned the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology to manufacture radars to upgrade the nation’s naval monitoring stations A military enthusiast yesterday posted photographs of Taiwanese F-16 jets taking off from Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu with two refueling aircraft, presumably returning to Taiwan from the US for upgrades. Asked about the matter, the Ministry of National Defense declined to comment. The jets had been part of training at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona and had briefly landed in Honolulu, where the photographer, Aeros808, had spotted them, a source said. The jets did not land in Guam, which had been done in 1996 when the US Air Force delivered F-16s to Taiwan, the source said, adding that the
‘STAY CALM’: The nation has more than 800 million masks in stock and can produce up to 40 million a day, while hand sanitizer stocks are also sufficient The nation has an ample supply of masks to meet demand amid concerns over an increase in the number of domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Tuesday. Taiwan has more than 800 million masks in stock, with daily production of 18.3 million units on average and maximum daily capacity of 40 million units, the ministry said on Facebook. The ministry’s assurance came after Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), on Monday said that the nation has entered the community transmission stage after several new domestic
RSS