More than 60 percent of the respondents to a survey said that “Mainland China” should no longer be designated as the nation’s territory if the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution is amended, the Taiwan Indicators Survey Research said on Thursday.
While amendments to the ROC Constitution considers China, called the “Mainland Area,” and Taiwan, called the “Taiwan Area,” as territories of the ROC, a majority of the respondents said they disagree with the amendments.
According to the results of the survey, 63.5 percent of the respondents said that if the Constitution is to be amended again, clauses stipulating the “Mainland Area” as ROC territory should be removed and 19.8 percent said that it should continue to be designated as territory of the ROC, while 16.6 percent declined to answer the question.
An analysis of the survey results showed that there might also be a generation gap over the issue of whether the “Mainland Area” should continue to be ROC territory, with support for removing the related clause increasing among younger people.
While China repeatedly asks president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to recognize the so-called “1992 consensus” and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office director Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) says that Tsai’s refusal to recognize the “consensus” would be considered a change in cross-strait “status quo” — despite Tsai’s pledge to maintain it — the majority of the respondents across party lines seem to side with Tsai.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Survey results showed that 55.1 percent of the respondents consider it maintaining the “status quo” if Tsai continued to push for cross-strait exchanges under the ROC Constitution and 27.1 percent said they would consider Tsai’s refusal to recognize the “1992 consensus” as changing the “status quo.”
As many as 50 percent of the respondents who identified themselves as pan-blue supporters said they agree with Tsai; the ratio increased to 61.2 percent among pan-green supporters, while 54.3 percent of the respondents who identified themselves as neutral said they support Tsai’s idea.
The survey also showed Tsai is overwhelmingly trusted by the respondents compared with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese president Xi Jinping (習近平).
According to the survey, 55 percent of the respondents said they trust Tsai, 26 percent said they do not trust her, 26 percent said they trust Ma and 16 percent said they trust Xi.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal