The majority of respondents in a survey about Taiwan-China relations support maintaining the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait, the Mainland Affairs Council said on Thursday.
In a poll of 1,072 people, 84.9 percent said they supported maintaining the “status quo” between Taiwan and China, while 6.8 percent said that Taiwan should declare independence as soon as possible and 1.6 percent said they supported unification with China.
Asked about President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) comments about cross-strait relations in her Double Ten National Day address, 77.1 percent said they supported her views, while 12.3 percent were against them.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
In the speech, Tsai laid out “four commitments”: that the nation will adhere to a free and democratic constitutional system; that the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other; that the nation will resist annexation or encroachment upon its sovereignty; and that the nation’s future must be decided in accordance with the will of Taiwanese.
The survey, commissioned by the council and conducted by National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center, also showed that 77.1 percent of respondents said they felt that Beijing was “unfriendly” toward Taipei, while 9 percent held the opposite view.
On Beijing’s attitude toward Taiwanese, 57.9 percent said it was “unfriendly,” while 29.1 percent said it was “friendly,” the council said.
The poll showed that public opinion remains strongly against Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula, with 85.6 percent opposing it and 5.4 percent agreeing with it.
The “one country, two systems” scheme refers to a principle formulated by former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) , in which regions such as Hong Kong and Macau could be part of China while retaining their own economic and administrative systems.
The poll, conducted from Nov. 10-14, had a margin of error of 2.99 percentage points.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration is seeking to join an Indo-Pacific economic framework being planned by the US, a senior official said. The government is paying close attention to the regional economic pact being touted by US President Joe Biden, although too few details have emerged from Washington for Taipei to make specific plans, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The US is expected to launch the Indo-Pacific economic framework next month after negotiations with Australia, India and Japan, the official said. The economic initiative is to tackle trade facilitation, standards for the digital economy and technology, supply-chain resiliency and
‘NEW YEAR GIFT’: While the MAC called the song propaganda, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said that it addressed the homesickness of ‘Taiwanese compatriots’ A pro-unification pop song aired on Chinese television earlier this month would only further sour Taiwanese sentiment toward China, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Wednesday. The music video for We Sing the Same Song (我們同唱一首歌), which aired on China Central Television, features Chinese artists performing alongside Taiwanese singers Jam Hsiao (蕭敬騰), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Chen Li-nong (陳立農). The lyrics were reportedly written by Taiwanese lyricist Vincent Fang (方文山), known for his collaborations with Jay Chou (周杰倫), to music composed by a Chinese musician. Sung in Chinese and Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), the song is about three Taiwanese siblings who
RULES TIGHTENED: Passengers arriving from Sydney and Los Angeles tested positive for COVID-19, while passengers arriving from Seattle all tested negative Seventeen of the 217 passengers who arrived on long-haul at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning tested positive for COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said, adding that the positivity rate was higher than expected. Yesterday was the first day that the government enforced stricter health guidelines for the testing of passengers arriving on long-haul flights. They must undergo a polymerase chain reaction test immediately after arriving at the nation’s international airports. Those who test positive are sent directly to hospitals to avoid spreading the virus to people working in and around the airports and at quarantine hotels. Victor Wang (王必勝),
‘CHAOS’: Victor Wang, the CECC’s on-site commander at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, said testing of arrivals has sped up in time to meet holiday demand For now, people are not banned from eating and drinking on trains, despite the rise in locally transmitted cases of COVID-19, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday. “On Sunday, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced that the nation would remain on a level 2 COVID-19 alert until at least Jan. 24. So we will follow the center’s disease prevention guidelines for passengers on public transport systems,” Wang said. However, bus and train depots have been asked to disinfect facilities more frequently, he said. The center’s new
RSS