More than 60 percent of the respondents to a survey said that “Mainland China” should no longer be designated as the nation’s territory if the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution is amended, the Taiwan Indicators Survey Research said on Thursday.
While amendments to the ROC Constitution considers China, called the “Mainland Area,” and Taiwan, called the “Taiwan Area,” as territories of the ROC, a majority of the respondents said they disagree with the amendments.
According to the results of the survey, 63.5 percent of the respondents said that if the Constitution is to be amended again, clauses stipulating the “Mainland Area” as ROC territory should be removed and 19.8 percent said that it should continue to be designated as territory of the ROC, while 16.6 percent declined to answer the question.
An analysis of the survey results showed that there might also be a generation gap over the issue of whether the “Mainland Area” should continue to be ROC territory, with support for removing the related clause increasing among younger people.
While China repeatedly asks president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to recognize the so-called “1992 consensus” and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office director Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) says that Tsai’s refusal to recognize the “consensus” would be considered a change in cross-strait “status quo” — despite Tsai’s pledge to maintain it — the majority of the respondents across party lines seem to side with Tsai.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Survey results showed that 55.1 percent of the respondents consider it maintaining the “status quo” if Tsai continued to push for cross-strait exchanges under the ROC Constitution and 27.1 percent said they would consider Tsai’s refusal to recognize the “1992 consensus” as changing the “status quo.”
As many as 50 percent of the respondents who identified themselves as pan-blue supporters said they agree with Tsai; the ratio increased to 61.2 percent among pan-green supporters, while 54.3 percent of the respondents who identified themselves as neutral said they support Tsai’s idea.
The survey also showed Tsai is overwhelmingly trusted by the respondents compared with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese president Xi Jinping (習近平).
According to the survey, 55 percent of the respondents said they trust Tsai, 26 percent said they do not trust her, 26 percent said they trust Ma and 16 percent said they trust Xi.
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