More than 60 percent of respondents backed the President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) administration’s support for protesters seeking democracy and freedom in Hong Kong, a survey commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) showed on Thursday.
The survey, conducted from Thursday last week to Monday, showed that 64.7 percent supported the government standing with Hong Kongers calling for freedom, the rule of law and human rights at rallies in the Chinese territory.
It showed that 22.6 percent did not agree with the government’s position, while 12.6 percent expressed no opinion.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
Hong Kongers protested in huge numbers on June 9 to oppose an extradition bill that would have allowed Hong Kong authorities to extradite criminal suspects to Taiwan, Macau and China.
The rally, which organizers said was attended by more than 1 million people, has widened into a movement calling for democracy and the resignation of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥).
Tsai and high-ranking administration officials have issued statements in support of Hong Kongers’ aspirations for democracy.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) also denounced the Hong Kong government’s handling of the rallies.
The survey found that 88.7 percent of respondents rejected the “one country, two systems” framework proposed by Beijing as a model for cross-strait relations, an increase of more than 10 percentage points from 79 percent in a similar survey in March.
“The Republic of China is a sovereign state. The one country, two systems framework is filled with lies and illusions,” MAC Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said, adding that Beijing’s political maneuvers are anti-democratic and are undermining cross-strait peace.
The survey showed that 87.3 percent preferred the “status quo” regarding cross-strait relations, while 1.7 percent favored immediate unification and 4.8 percent preferred a declaration of independence as soon as possible. About 6.1 percent had no comment on the issue.
Sixty-five point five percent said that Beijing was unfriendly toward the government, while 51.4 percent said it was unfriendly toward Taiwanese, up from 60.9 percent and 45.6 percent respectively in March.
The survey was conducted by National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center and commissioned by the council.
It had an effective sample size of 1,095 Taiwanese aged at least 20, and had a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 2.96 percentage points.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
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
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS