President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) approval rating increased by more than 10 percentage points in the wake of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) Jan. 2 speech about Taiwan, a Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation poll released yesterday found.
Tsai’s approval rating rebounded from a record low of 24.3 percent to 34.5 percent, her highest since June last year, because of her defiant response to Xi’s speech, foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) told a Taipei news conference.
Her disapproval rating also declined by 12.8 percentage points to 47.5 percent from a record high of 60.3 percent, You said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“This was a dramatic change and the Chinese factor was the only reason. Xi did Tsai a great favor, although it was unintended,” he said.
Asked whether they were happy with Tsai’s cross-strait policies, 43.2 percent of respondents said they were, while 49 percent said they were not, the poll found.
Compared with a month before, those who approved of Tsai’s cross-strait policies increased by 18 percentage points, while those who disapproved of them fell by 17 percentage points.
The jump in Tsai’s approval rating coincided with a marked increase in the number of respondents supporting Taiwan independence, You said.
Asked whether Taiwan should become independent or unify with China in the future, 47. 5 percent of respondents said they support independence, 22.7 percent said they support unification and 18.5 percent preferred the “status quo,” the poll showed.
It was the most support for independence since September 2017, the foundation said.
Support for independence increased by 12.4 percentage points from last month’s poll, while supporters of unification and the “status quo” fell by 1.1 and 10.7 percentage points respectively.
“The figures suggest more people who previously supported maintaining the ‘status quo’ now support independence because of Xi’s speech, while the number of people supporting unification remain about the same,” You said.
Questions related to Xi’s speech yielded similar results, with the majority of respondents supporting independence and one-quarter supporting unification, he said.
Asked if they agreed with Xi that “the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China,” 24 percent said they agreed, while 68.3 percent disagreed, the poll found.
Asked if they support peaceful unification and China’s “one country, two systems” framework, 24.6 percent said yes, compared with 67.1 percent who opposed it.
In addition, 19.2 percent of respondents said Taiwan needs to rely on the so-called “1992 consensus” for survival, while 67.5 percent disagreed.
Former premier William Lai (賴清德) received a high approval rating of 53.2 percent, an increase of 5.8 percentage points over a similar poll in September last year, You said.
Asked whether they have confidence in the new Cabinet led by Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), 38.7 percent of respondents said they did, while 52 percent said they did not, the poll found.
The poll, conducted on Monday and Tuesday last week, collected 1,074 valid samples.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
RSS