The nation is divided over accepting refugees, giving foreign aid and other measures intended to increase international participation in the face of Chinese-imposed diplomatic isolation, according to the results of a poll released yesterday by the Association of Foreign Relations.
More than 37 percent of respondents said they were opposed to accepting any refugees, while about 40 percent supported accepting some refugees and 10 percent supported accepting larger numbers, the poll showed.
Most of the 10 percent of respondents who refused to answer were likely opposed to accepting any refugees, choosing not to answer because of a social acceptability bias, association secretary-general Huang Kwei-bo (黃奎博) said, adding that the results should give the central government “food for thought.”
“There is some ‘not in my backyard’ effect for refugees, just as there might be for a garbage dump or nuclear plant,” he said.
The poll also found only tepid support for providing international aid, with more than 44 percent of respondents saying they have no opinion when asked how the nation should contribute to the international community.
Only 10 percent of respondents said that the nation should provide economic aid, while 9 percent supported providing humanitarian aid.
Respondents were divided over the question whether the international community supported Taiwan’s participation in major international organizations, with 38 percent of respondents saying that the international community is supportive and 40 percent saying that it is not.
“Respondents with pan-blue tendencies were relatively likely to believe that the international community is not supportive,” Huang said. “The key appears to be China — pan-blue respondents view China as leading the international community in opposing our entry, while pan-green respondents feel that the international community is supportive, but is compelled by China [to exclude Taiwan].”
More than 56 percent of respondents said that providing economic aid to other nations in exchange for the maintenance of formal diplomatic ties was not cost effective.
Division between pan-green and pan-blue respondents was also apparent when questioned about which nation was most friendly to Taiwan, with pan-green supporters strongly inclined toward Japan.
Overall, 35 percent of respondents said Japan is the nation that is most friendly toward Taiwan, more than double the 15 percent who opted for the US, the second-most popular nation.
When asked which nation helped Taiwan’s economy the most, 25.8 percent of respondents said China and 23.4 percent said the US, even though China was widely cited as the nation posing the greatest threat to Taiwan’s economic development, with 62 percent of respondents selecting it over any other nation.
More than 59 percent of respondents chose the US as the nation contributing the most to Taiwan’s security versus 4.9 percent for China and 3.8 percent for Japan.
The random telephone survey was conducted in late June, with an effective sample size of 1,140 and a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
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