More than half of Taiwanese view the “one country, two systems” framework as a failure and support the nation “going its own way” as Hong Kong marks the 20th anniversary of its handover to China, a survey published yesterday by the Taiwan Thinktank showed.
More than 52 percent of respondents said that the “one country, two systems” model applied in Hong Kong has proved a failure, with only 22 percent viewing it as a success.
More than 63 percent were pessimistic about Hong Kong’s democracy, with only 22 percent expressing optimism.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Proposed by former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) in the 1980s, the formula of extensive local autonomy beneath overarching Chinese sovereignty was initially directed at Taiwan before being applied to Hong Kong in 1997, but has failed to win local support.
More than 73 percent of respondents said they are not willing to accept reunification under a “one country, two systems” formula, with only 19 percent expressing support.
Numerous other questions focused on how the nation should respond to China’s diplomatic offensive following the severing of relations with Panama and forced changes to the name of numerous overseas representative offices.
When asked how to respond to China’s offensive, 40 percent of respondents chose “going our own way,” compared with 33 percent in favor of “maintaining the status quo” and 18 percent who opted for “compromising with China.”
When asked whether the nation should accept the so-called “1992 consensus” or insist on maintaining sovereignty, 51 percent chose maintaining sovereignty, compared with 34 percent who preferred to accept the “1992 consensus.”
Fifty-five percent supported referring to foreign representative offices in Taiwan to being “stationed in Taiwan” — as was the practice during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) term — rather than being “stationed in the Republic of China,” with 28.4 percent opposing the proposal.
More than 69 percent of respondents supported shifting resources from maintaining formal ties with the nation’s 20 remaining diplomatic allies to “participating in international society.”
“Regardless of name usage, where to invest our diplomatic resources or the overall direction for our foreign policy development, there seems to be some divergence between public opinion and the government’s current track,” Taiwan Thinktank deputy executive director Lai I-chung (賴怡忠) said, referring to President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) emphasis on maintaining the cross-strait “status quo.”
Meanwhile, Tsai’s approval rating is 29 percent, according to the poll, with 56 percent of respondents disapproving of her performance.
Overall support for pension reform was 49.8 percent, with 36 percent of respondents expressing dissatisfaction.
“What is interesting is that levels of dissatisfaction are highest among young people, who are probably dissatisfied because they feel reform has not gone far enough,” Taiwanese Association for Northeast Asia Studies deputy secretary-general Doong Sy-chi (董思齊) said.
The 20 to 29 age group had a 57 percent rate of dissatisfaction, more than 20 percentage points higher than any other age group.
The survey collected 1,133 valid samples and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
The “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
AGGRESSION: China’s latest intrusions set a new benchmark for its ‘gray zone’ tactics and possibly a new pattern that it would attempt to normalize, a researcher said China’s latest military exercises represent a new challenge to Taiwan’s legal authority to demarcate its borders in the Taiwan Strait, a defense expert said, adding that the fleets in the latest exercises were likely the most powerful the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ever assembled. The PLA conducted military exercises from Sunday last week to 6am on Friday, which encompassed large swathes of the western Pacific, including the Taiwan Strait and waters off the Philippines and Guam, National Policy Foundation associate research fellow Chieh Chung (揭仲) said on Friday. The Ministry of National Defense said that it detected 70 warship and 162 aircraft
DOMESTIC MARKET: To protect the livelihoods of local egg farmers, the government adopted a new method for releasing imported eggs, the agriculture minister said More than 54 million imported eggs will be disposed, as their expiration date has passed, Minister of Agriculture Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said yesterday. Chen made the remarks at a news conference in Taipei, explaining the flow of imported eggs following recent controversies regarding the products. The ministry introduced a special egg import program to address a nationwide egg shortage earlier this year. However, controversies have risen in recent weeks. These included an accusation that the government helped some egg importing companies over others, eggs imported from Brazil that had an incorrect expiration date, and egg shipments from Brazil that were found
PACIFIC OCEAN: Defense experts have warned that the ‘Shandong,’ China’s second largest aircraft carrier, poses a serious threat to eastern Taiwan’s defenses The drills conducted by the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong in the Western Pacific last week were more aimed at showcasing China’s military capabilities to the US rather than toward Taiwan, a Taiwanese defense expert said yesterday. Lin Yin-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said the drills which involved dozens of warplanes sought to test China’s anti-access and area denial capabilities should the US and its allies attempt to interfere in a cross-strait conflict. Lin said that the latest Chinese drills coincided with a joint maritime exercise conducted by the US, South Korea
Thousands of bottles of Sriracha have been returned or destroyed after the discovery of excessive sulfur dioxide, a bleaching agent, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday. About 12,600 bottles totaling 9,991.8kg of the hot sauce imported from the US by Emporium Corp (河洛企業) were flagged at the border for containing illegal levels of sulfur dioxide, the FDA said in its regular border inspection announcement. Inspectors discovered 0.5g per kilogram of the common bleaching agent and preservative, higher than the 0.03g permitted, it said. As it is the first time within six months the product has been flagged, Sriracha products from
RSS