The majority of the nation’s students do not know how many diplomatic allies Taiwan has, according to a poll released by the King Car Education Foundation.
Only 35 percent of respondents identified the correct answer: “Between 21 and 30,” according to the poll, which surveyed junior and senior high-school students and university students.
A total of 65 percent of respondents either got the answer wrong or said they did not know, the results show.
The top three countries that students believe have the biggest influence on Taiwan’s politics and security are the US with 82 percent, China with 65 percent and Japan with 54 percent.
Japan was voted the friendliest country toward Taiwan for the fourth consecutive year, followed by the US, and Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in Africa and Central and South America.
Only 11 percent of respondents said that China is the friendliest country toward Taiwan, but 77 percent said they believe China has the biggest influence over Taiwan’s economic development, followed by the US, Japan and South Korea.
Meanwhile, the international issues that Taiwanese students care most about are climate change (63.6 percent), ecological conservation (44.9 percent), human rights (36.9 percent), the European and Southeast Asian refugee crises (30.5 percent) and cultural preservation (24.8 percent).
The respondents were asked which country — Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia or Indonesia — did not participate in a May meeting held to address the Rohingya refugee crisis.
Only 15 percent of respondents identified the correct answer of Singapore, according to the poll.
Soochow University political science professor Liu Bih-rong (劉必榮) said that a rising Southeast Asia could present opportunities for Taiwan, but the survey shows that Taiwanese students have a poor understanding of the region.
The lack of motivation to learn more about the region, coupled with fragmented reports in the media are the main reasons, he said.
The poll collected a total of 2,352 valid samples. It had a confidence level of 97 percent and a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS