Nearly 90 percent of younger people in the nation identify themselves as Taiwanese, with about 40 percent of them wishing to maintain the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait while retaining the option to declare independence, according to a survey released by the China Youth Corps.
The poll, conducted between Oct. 22 and Dec. 10 last year among students in junior and senior-high schools nationwide, found that about 90 percent of the respondents regarded themselves as Taiwanese, with 49 percent preferring to permanently maintain the “status quo” and 38 percent saying they wanted the cross-strait status to remain as it has been in the hope that Taiwan could achieve independence in the future.
Just 12 percent of those polled supported cross-strait “unification,” while about 30 percent said they had never given much thought to cross-strait issues, the survey showed.
Meanwhile, male respondents generally attached greater importance to having a happy marriage and family, while female respondents assigned greater importance to personal freedom and career stability.
As for the growing youth unemployment rate, average low starting salaries and soaring real-estate costs, most respondents said that they did not believe the problems would go away any time soon and they put job stability before climbing career ladders.
Despite the nation’s sluggish job market, nearly 40 percent of those polled were disinclined to seek job opportunities in China, compared with 32 percent who said they would consider the idea, the survey said.
With regard to recreational activities, more than 60 percent of the respondents said that they spent less than 12 hours a week on leisure activities, citing a lack of time, companionship and money as the main reasons.
However, 80 percent of the respondents said that they were frequent users of smartphone messaging applications, while 48 percent said they used the Internet on a daily basis, mostly to chat with acquaintances and meet new friends.
The poll also found a growing willingness among respondents to engage in volunteer work, with more than 70 percent of those polled saying they were inclined to join volunteer missions and 80 percent saying that such activities are meaningful.
However, a wide gap remained between belief and action, as 70 percent of the respondents had never signed up for volunteer activities.
The survey collected 4,021 valid samples with a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 2.56 percent.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to