A growing percentage of Taiwanese view the nation’s trade relationship with China as competitive rather than mutually beneficial, according to a poll published yesterday.
The survey conducted by the Chinese-language United Daily News found that 41 percent of Taiwanese see cross-strait economic and trade relations as competitive, the highest percentage since 2010, when the newspaper started the annual poll on the development of Taiwan-China ties.
Only 17 percent of Taiwanese think cross-strait economic relations are more complementary than competitive, while 32 percent think that the links are both reciprocal and competitive, the poll showed.
Last year, the survey found that 35 percent of people in Taiwan viewed the ties as more complementary than competitive.
Overall, cross-strait economic relations were given a score of 6.4 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 to 4 meaning friendly or complementary, 5 to 6 indicating an improving relationship and 7 to 10 signifying tense or competitive relations.
The scale was used to gauge five areas of cross-strait ties — politics, military, foreign relations, trade and society.
In the military section, 36 percent of Taiwanese said this year that cross-strait relations were tense, compared with 19 percent last year, while 37 percent saw the situation as improving.
Overall, cross-strait military relations scored 6.5 points.
The poll also uncovered that Taiwanese think there is increasing competition in cross-strait diplomacy, with 49 percent rating it as highly competitive, 30 percent as improving and just 11 percent as easing.
With an overall score of 6.9, cross-strait diplomacy was found to be the most competitive aspect of relations across the strait.
Despite the perception of growing economic, military and diplomatic competition across the strait, Taiwanese view relations between the two sides generally as peaceful, the poll showed.
Most Taiwanese think there is not much chance of a war with China and want to “maintain the ‘status quo’” in terms of relations with China, the poll found.
On a scale of 1 to 10, the average score on the possibility of a war between Taiwan and China was 3.2, with 10 indicating the highest possibility.
On the issue of Taiwan’s status, 47 percent of Taiwanese want to maintain the “status quo,” 19 percent would like to see the nation claim immediate independence, while 15 percent would prefer to keep the “status quo” now and move toward independence later, the poll showed.
About 4 percent favor an immediate “unification” with China, 8 percent would prefer a gradual process and 7 percent are undecided or have no opinion, the survey found.
Meanwhile, 31 percent of Taiwanese think cross-strait social links are warming because of private exchanges, 44 percent see such ties as improving and 19 percent think that those relations are still cold, the poll found. Overall, social relationships across the strait were given 5.3 points, the highest score among the five areas in the survey.
This year’s survey, conducted from Sept. 7 to Sept. 10 by telephone, collected 1,010 valid samples from throughout Taiwan. It had a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, the paper said.
People can take the Taipei MRT free of charge if they access it at Nanjing Sanmin Station or Taipei Arena Station on the Green Line between 12am and 6am on Jan. 1, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Friday, outlining its plans to ease crowding during New Year’s events in the capital. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend New Year’s Eve events in Taipei, with singer A-mei (張惠妹) performing at the Taipei Dome and the city government’s New Year’s Eve party at Taipei City Hall Plaza, the department said. As people have tended to use the MRT’s Blue or
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
Taiwanese professional baseball should update sports stadiums and boost engagement to enhance fans’ experience, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview on Friday. The league has urged Farglory Group and the Taipei City Government to improve the Taipei Dome’s outdated equipment, including relatively rudimentary television and sound systems, and poor technology, he said. The Tokyo Dome has markedly better television and sound systems, despite being 30 years old, because its managers continually upgraded its equipment, Tsai said. In contrast, the Taipei Dome lacked even a room for referees
RSS