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.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
SECURITY RISK: A university student sent a general alarm signal to THSRC’s control center on April 5, causing four operating trains to temporarily halt services The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday pledged to submit a report on ways to harden the communication security of railway systems after a university student hacked into Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) radio communications system and disrupted operations of four high-speed rail trains last month. Investigation by the police and prosecutors found that the university student and radio enthusiast, surnamed Lin (林), first used a software-defined radio (SDR) filter to analyze THSRC signals, downloaded the data to a computer, cracked the parameters and then programmed the codes into his radio devices. Lin then sent a general alarm signal to
RSS