Around 60 percent of Taiwanese would be willing to resist “at all costs” if China attacks Taiwan and the US does not deploy its military to help, according to Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies’ “American Portrait” survey.
The survey showed that 58.7 percent of respondents would be willing to resist Chinese invasion “at all costs” even if the US does not deploy any military forces to help Taiwan.
Among them, the percentage of respondents who responded “definitely” was 41.2 percent, while those who responded “probably” were 17.5 percent, data showed.
Photo: Reuters
The proportion who responded “definitely not” was 21.7 percent while those who chose “probably not” was 14.5 percent, it showed.
However, if the US were to deploy military forces, 56.5 percent would then be willing to “resist at all costs,” the survey showed.
Among them, 34.4 percent of respondents would “definitely” resist at all costs, while 22.1 percent responded “probably,” it showed. Around 21.7 percent responded “definitely not,” while 13.1 percent said “probably not.”
Taiwanese willingness to fight has remained high since 1998, according to various reputable surveys, Pan Hsin-hsin (潘欣欣), an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Soochow University, said at an online news conference yesterday held on the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) website.
The number of respondents willing to resist remains relatively high, largely driven by supporters of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), while supporters of opposition parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), tend to lower the figure, she said.
The willingness of DPP supporters to defend Taiwan remained unchanged regardless of US intervention, she added.
When asked which possibility regarding future cross-strait relations most aligns with their viewpoint, 1.9 percent responded that they supported “unification as soon as possible,” while 5.8 percent wanted to “declare independence as soon as possible,” the survey showed.
A large proportion of respondents wanted to maintain the status quo, with 29.9 percent choosing “maintain the status quo indefinitely.”
Since 2021, American Portrait has conducted surveys with the question, “Do you agree or disagree that the US is a credible country?”
The overall perceived credibility of the US dropped from approximately 45 percent of respondents in 2021 to 34 percent this year agreeing with that questions, said Wu Wen-Chin (吳文欽), Research Fellow with the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica.
Meanwhile, Chinese credibility rose from 11.7 percent in 2021 to 17 percent this year, he said.
He noted that Taiwanese respondents view the US and China very differently in terms of credibility, with far more people seeing the US as trustworthy than China.
Respondents were also asked whether they agree or disagree with the government increasing the national defense budget to 3 percent of GDP.
A total of 31.1 percent of respondents said they disagreed, including 16.9 percent who said “strongly disagree” and 14.2 percent who said “probably disagree,” the survey showed.
A total of 53.5 percent of respondents said they agreed, including 25.9 percent who said “probably agree” and 27.6 percent who said “strongly agree,” it showed.
When asked if they would agree to increased defense spending “in response to a US request,” overall disagreement rose to 40 percent, while overall agreement dropped to 49.7 percent, it showed.
Meanwhile, 69.5 percent of respondents said they supported Taiwan’s procurement of US weapons, while 24.7 percent did not support US arms sales.
Almost all DPP supporters were in support of the purchases, while about two-thirds of TPP supporters and fewer than half of KMT supporters expressed support, Pan said.
This has created a political deadlock as the opposition parties together hold the legislative majority, causing the procurement of US arms to continue at a “glacial speed,” she said.
The results came as the DPP’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.26 billion) special defense budget bill has been stalled by the legislature for months.
The 2026 Questionnaire was conducted from Jan. 20 to Jan. 26, collecting 1,206 valid telephone interview responses.
Respondents were aged 20 and older, with a weighted sample against age, ethnicity, education and region to reflect Taiwan’s population.
It had a margin of error of 2.82 percentage points with a confidence level of 95 percent.
American Portrait is a Taiwan-based survey that aims to gauge the public’s perception of the US and China.
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