More than three-quarters of Japanese feel close to Taiwan, and most consider it the Asian region they are most familiar with, a survey commissioned by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan showed yesterday.
Tokyo-based Central Research Services conducted the annual survey for the office for a third time to learn how Japanese perceive Taiwan.
Asked to choose a region in Asia that they felt most familiar with — Taiwan, China, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Russia, Philippines, Vietnam or India — 46.2 percent of respondents picked Taiwan.
Photo: AP
Of the respondents, 76.6 percent said they felt “close” or “somewhat close” to Taiwan.
Asked why they felt close to Taiwan, most respondents said it was because Taiwanese are friendly and nice.
Other reasons they gave included Japan and Taiwan having a long history of engagement, strong economic connections and shared cultural elements, as well as a large Japanese-speaking population in Taiwan and mutual assistance during earthquakes or the COVID-19 pandemic.
The majority of those who did not feel close to Taiwan attributed it to a lack of knowledge or concern about Taiwan-related affairs.
Sixty-five percent said that Taiwan is “very trustworthy” or “trustworthy,” citing reasons such as Taiwan being friendly to Japan and the two sides’ shared values.
Of the respondents, 72.8, percent said that the relationship between Taiwan and Japan is “good” or “somewhat good,” while only 1.2 percent said it was “bad” or “somewhat bad.”
Of those polled, 59.1 percent said the relationship would continue to develop and 26.6 percent said it would remain the same.
Asked what they thought “the most concerning issue” between Japan and Taiwan was, 44.4 percent said “the impact of the cross-strait situation on Japan.”
To maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, 57 percent of respondents chose diplomacy and dialogue, while 37 percent said cooperation between Taiwan, Japan and the US.
Of the respondents, 63.5 percent said that they were paying “some” or “close” attention to Taiwan’s presidential election next month.
The survey was conducted online from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1, with 1,000 responses collected from Japanese citizens aged 20 to 89.
It had a 95 percent confidence level and a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS