More than half of the adults in Taiwan would be willing to take up arms if China were to invade, a survey conducted by the Association of Chinese Elite Leadership said on Friday.
According to the survey, 61.4 percent of respondents said they would be willing to take up arms to defend Taiwan if China attacked, while 25.1 percent said they would not.
Taiwan Society of International Law deputy secretary-general Lin Ting-hui (林廷輝), a former National Security Council assistant researcher, told a news conference that 61.4 percent was high, citing an earlier foreign survey in which support for fighting invaders was lower in Ukraine and Sweden.
Lin was referring to a 2015 survey conducted by WIN/Gallup International, a US-based market research and polling company, in which residents of Europeans nations were asked if they would be willing to fight for their country in the event of war.
In the WIN/Gallup poll, 59 percent of Ukrainians and 55 percent of Swedes said they would fight.
The determination of Taiwanese to defend their country and their faith in the nation’s military could be related to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, Cross-Strait Policy Association researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said.
That conflict has given Taiwanese a new perspective on the Taiwan-China situation, as people have seen how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has turned into a quagmire, Wu said.
Taiwan NextGen Foundation chief executive officer Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) said it is notable that 49.8 percent of respondents who indicated support for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said they would not fight, as did 47.6 percent who supported the Taiwan People’s Party.
Chen did not disclose figures for supporters of other political parties.
Respondents were asked to say what political party they supported, if any.
Although a majority said they would fight, 68.5 percent of those polled also said they hoped to see cross-strait relations gradually improve and exchanges take place as the COVID-19 situation eases, Chen said.
This indicates that cross-strait relations might still be moving in the right direction rather than toward intractable enmity, he added.
The Association of Chinese Elite Leadership poll was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday among people aged 20 or older.
The poll received 1,073 valid samples, with interviews conducted via telephone. It has a margin of error of 2.98 percent with a 95 percent confidence interval.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS