A record-high 76.6 percent of the Taiwanese public sees China as unfriendly to the Taiwanese government, as well as Taiwanese (61.5 percent), the highest levels in 15 years, a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) survey released on Thursday showed.
Taiwan attended the World Health Assembly, the WHO’s decisionmaking body, as an observer from 2009 to 2016, but has since been denied entry due to pressure from Beijing.
About 90 percent of respondents said that they were against China keeping Taiwan from joining the WHO amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as that directly affects the Taiwanese public’s right to health.
More than 70 percent felt that the government should exhort Beijing to end its political machinations against Taiwan at the WHO, the survey found.
On the issue of evacuating Taiwanese stranded in China’s Hubei Province, about 73 percent supported the government prioritizing disadvantaged people and disease prevention measures, it showed.
Since last year, the percentage of the Taiwanese public opposed to China’s “one country, two systems” framework has increased from 75.4 percent to 90 percent, the survey found.
Beijing’s continued suppression of Taiwan on the international stage has only led to heightened tensions across the Taiwan Strait, MAC Deputy Minister Chen Ming-chi (陳明祺) said.
Chen called on the Chinese Communist Party to recognize that its political claims are not realistic and to rationally weigh public opinion in Taiwan when developing its cross-strait policies.
The council commissioned the National Chengchi University Election Study Center for the poll, which was conducted via telephone interviews from Thursday last week to Monday. It collected 1,089 valid samples and has a margin of error of 2.97 percentage points.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
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A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
A British man was arrested for attempting to smuggle 14.37kg of marijuana into Taiwan through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Customs said late yesterday. The man, who arrived from Bangkok at 9pm on Friday, was asked by customs officers to open his luggage during a random inspection, Taipei Customs said in a news release. The passenger, whose identity was not disclosed, refused to open his suitcase and tried to flee the restricted area. He was eventually subdued by three customs officials and an Aviation Police Bureau officer. A later search of his checked luggage uncovered 14.37kg of marijuana buds. The case was handed over