A slight majority of Taiwanese lack confidence in the government’s ability to defend the nation, the results of a poll published yesterday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed.
The survey showed that 51.5 percent of respondents were not confident in the government’s ability to defend the nation against a hypothetical Chinese invasion, comprising 21.1 percent who “somewhat” lacked confidence and 30.4 who had “no confidence,” the foundation told a news conference in Taipei.
It showed that 41.2 percent have confidence in the government’s ability to defend Taiwan, comprising 13.9 percent of the total who were “highly confident” and 27.3 percent who were “somewhat confident.”
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
The foundation said 4.2 percent of respondents had no opinion, while the remainder said they did not know.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) management of cross-strait ties garnered 48.6 percent approval among the respondents, comprising 15.5 percent who “highly approved” and 33.1 percent who “somewhat approved,” the survey showed.
However, 43.3 percent did not approve of her management of cross-strait ties, comprising 19.1 percent who “somewhat disapproved” and 24.3 percent who “highly disapproved,” the foundation said, adding that 6.1 percent had no opinion.
The poll found that 43.6 percent agreed that Taiwan’s armed forces have responded weakly to China’s military threats, while 42.4 percent disagreed with the statement, it said, adding that 7 percent expressed no opinion.
Asked whether Taiwan or China would win if a conflict were to start tomorrow, 29.6 percent said Taiwan, 51.2 percent said China and 10.7 percent said the result would be too close to call, it said.
Asked which country would win the Russia-Ukraine war, 47.4 percent said Ukraine, 25.1 percent said Russia and 13.9 percent said the result is too close to call, the poll showed.
The public’s lack of confidence in the nation’s defenses suggests that Taiwanese either think the nation’s armed forces are less prepared than Ukraine’s, or the world would not support Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack, former legislator and political commentator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) said.
As the US has turned its strategic focus on the Asia-Pacific region and needs to protect the microchip supply chain for economic reasons, Taiwan should be in a better position than Ukraine to garner Washington’s support, Lin said.
US President Joe Biden has said on multiple occasions that the US would defend Taiwan if China were to invade, he said.
These considerations indicate that Taiwanese’s anxiety about national defense stems from a lack of confidence in the armed forces, he said.
Still, the poll showed public confidence in the military has improved since the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held the presidency, Lin said.
The survey among Taiwanese of voting age was conducted on Monday and Tuesday last week by telephone, collecting 1,005 valid samples. It has a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods