A Straits Exchange Foundation poll found that Taiwanese respondents preferred independence to unification with China by 52 percent to 24 percent when the option of maintaining the "status quo" was excluded.
Some respondents declined to answer the question, with around 10 percent writing in "status quo" as a third option on the survey, foundation vice chairman Michael You (
In a separate question, respondents were asked to chose between the three options of maintaining the "status quo," being independent, or becoming part of China, 45 percent of respondents favored independence, 18 percent favored unification and 22 percent of the interviewees chose the "status quo."
The survey was conducted for the foundation by a polling company on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.
The 1,073 respondents were aged 20 or older.
The foundation said the poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.99 percent at a 95 percent level of confidence.
The foundation released the results of the survey yesterday to highlight public opinion on issues related to cross-strait relations after 20 years of exchanges between Taiwan and China.
You said that the poll suggested cross-straight exchanges had not brought Taiwan and China closer together.
Contact between the countries has "carried the public farther and farther away from China instead of closer," You said.
When asked about their impression of China, 55 percent of respondents said they had a negative impression, while 33 percent said their impression of the country was positive.
When asked about their impression of the Chinese Communist Party, 70 percent had a negative impression and 17 percent a good one.
The foundation said the number of visits made by Taiwanese had made 45 million visits to China over the past 20 years.
Investment by Taiwanese in China in the past 20 years was between NT$4 trillion (US$123.9 billion) and NT$5 trillion, the foundation said.
"There are serious differences between the two sides of the strait and the poll shows that most people feel concerned about that," You said.
When asked whether Chinese should be allowed to visit Taiwan and whether restrictions should be lifted on Chinese capital, allowing investment in Taiwan, 71 percent of the respondents said the change would be an improvement, while 11 percent said it would be better for Taiwan if the restrictions were kept in place.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS