A poll released by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation yesterday showed 48.9 percent of Taiwanese support obtaining formal national independence, while 26.9 percent support maintaining the “status quo” and 11.8 percent support unification with China.
Support for Taiwanese independence topped support for maintaining the “status quo” by 22 percentage points and Chinese annexation by 37 percentage points, foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) said.
An overwhelming majority of respondents aged 20 to 44 voiced hope that Taiwan can declare independence in the future, he added.
Photo: Cheng I-hwa, Bloomberg
The result indicates most Taiwanese want the country to become independent, but understand the political constraints and the need for strategic patience, You said.
The number of respondents who wish Taiwan would become independent increased by 4.9 percentage points and those who showed support for maintaining the “status quo” increased by 2.9 percentage since last year’s survey, he said.
These changes indicate a “clear mainstream movement toward achieving national independence in the future,” he added.
A question in the survey asked respondents to choose between Taiwanese independence or unification with China should the “status quo” become unsustainable.
In response, 41 percent of those who initially supported the “status quo” said they would support independence, 18.3 percent switched to support unification with China and 40.7 percent said they would support the “status quo” regardless, You said.
Judging from the responses to that question, 59.9 percent of Taiwanese are pro-independence, 16.7 percent are pro-unification and 10.9 percent support extending the “status quo” indefinitely, he said.
Taiwanese independence is supported by a majority of respondents in every age group, all groups divided by educational attainment except associate degree holders and all professional groups including military service members, civil servants and teachers, he said.
Independence supporters make up the largest segment of respondents in every county and city except for Taoyuan, where support for the “status quo” prevailed, You said.
The poll showed that 72 percent of respondents identifying themselves as Democratic Progressive Party supporters are in favor of independence, 1 percent support the “status quo” and 5 percent support unification with China, he said.
Meanwhile, 18 percent of respondents identifying themselves as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supporters are in favor of independence, while 36 percent support the “status quo” and 35 percent support unification, You said.
The poll found 43 percent of self-identified Taiwan People’s Party supporters also support independence, while 40 percent support the “status quo” and 8.5 percent support unification with China, he said.
The foundation conducted the survey on Aug. 14 and Aug. 15 with Taiwanese aged 20 or older via both cellphone and landlines. The survey had 1,081 effective samples, and claimed a margin of error of 2.98 percentage points.
STRONG RELATIONSHIPS: China would not blockade Taiwan, because President Xi respects him, and Russia would not have invaded if he were president, he said Former US president and the Republican candidate in next month’s presidential election Donald Trump said he would impose additional tariffs on China if China were to “go into Taiwan,” the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. “I would say: If you go into Taiwan, I’m sorry to do this, I’m going to tax you, at 150 percent to 200 percent,” Trump was quoted as saying in an interview with the WSJ published on Friday. Asked if he would use military force against a blockade on Taiwan by China, Trump said it would not come to that because Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) respected
The Taipei Department of Transportation discouraged YouBike 2.0E users from taking them on long-distance trips after a Taipei city councilor said that riders often use the new electric bike, YouBike 2.0E, to climb Yangmingshan (陽明山). Taipei earlier this year began offering the first 30 minutes of YouBike 2.0 rentals for free, with Taipei and New Taipei offering the YouBike 2.0E on Aug. 30 to encourage rider usage. For YouBike 2.0, the rate is NT$10 per 30 minutes within the first four hours, NT$20 per 30 minutes for five to eight hours and NT$40 per 30 minutes after eight hours. Meanwhile, for e-bikes,
RESOURCE RICH: Taiwan is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire and has up to 30 gigawatts of the potential energy, of which 10 gigawatts could be economically viable Academia Sinica and CPC Corp yesterday began drilling the nation’s first deep geothermal well in Yilan County’s Yuanshan Township (員山). The 4km-deep well is expected to take 18 months to complete and has an estimated investment of NT$337 million (US$10.54 million), Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智) said. “While Taiwan has up to 30 gigawatts of potential deep geothermal energy, with an estimated 10 gigawatts being economically viable, only by digging wells can we determine the actual amount of commercially viable geothermal energy,” Liao said at the project’s opening ceremony. Data collected during and after the excavation process would be used for future
HACKERS’ MARKET: Chat logs about Taiwan and documents outlining ways to take over online accounts were leaked from a company that sells data from hacks Taiwanese cybersecurity specialists found 577 leaked documents which show that the Chinese Communist Party is engaging in “cognitive warfare” against Taiwan through cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns, a documentary released last month by Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed. The filmmakers behind Tracking China’s Leaked Documents said they spent six months visiting seven countries, including Taiwan, where they interviewed members of TeamT5, a malware research and cybersecurity firm, which found the leaked documents. TeamT5 said they discovered a string of mysterious URLs on the social media platform X, which they suspected could be accounts created by hackers or people who leaked data, which led