President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) approval rating increased by more than 10 percentage points in the wake of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) Jan. 2 speech about Taiwan, a Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation poll released yesterday found.
Tsai’s approval rating rebounded from a record low of 24.3 percent to 34.5 percent, her highest since June last year, because of her defiant response to Xi’s speech, foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) told a Taipei news conference.
Her disapproval rating also declined by 12.8 percentage points to 47.5 percent from a record high of 60.3 percent, You said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“This was a dramatic change and the Chinese factor was the only reason. Xi did Tsai a great favor, although it was unintended,” he said.
Asked whether they were happy with Tsai’s cross-strait policies, 43.2 percent of respondents said they were, while 49 percent said they were not, the poll found.
Compared with a month before, those who approved of Tsai’s cross-strait policies increased by 18 percentage points, while those who disapproved of them fell by 17 percentage points.
The jump in Tsai’s approval rating coincided with a marked increase in the number of respondents supporting Taiwan independence, You said.
Asked whether Taiwan should become independent or unify with China in the future, 47. 5 percent of respondents said they support independence, 22.7 percent said they support unification and 18.5 percent preferred the “status quo,” the poll showed.
It was the most support for independence since September 2017, the foundation said.
Support for independence increased by 12.4 percentage points from last month’s poll, while supporters of unification and the “status quo” fell by 1.1 and 10.7 percentage points respectively.
“The figures suggest more people who previously supported maintaining the ‘status quo’ now support independence because of Xi’s speech, while the number of people supporting unification remain about the same,” You said.
Questions related to Xi’s speech yielded similar results, with the majority of respondents supporting independence and one-quarter supporting unification, he said.
Asked if they agreed with Xi that “the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China,” 24 percent said they agreed, while 68.3 percent disagreed, the poll found.
Asked if they support peaceful unification and China’s “one country, two systems” framework, 24.6 percent said yes, compared with 67.1 percent who opposed it.
In addition, 19.2 percent of respondents said Taiwan needs to rely on the so-called “1992 consensus” for survival, while 67.5 percent disagreed.
Former premier William Lai (賴清德) received a high approval rating of 53.2 percent, an increase of 5.8 percentage points over a similar poll in September last year, You said.
Asked whether they have confidence in the new Cabinet led by Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), 38.7 percent of respondents said they did, while 52 percent said they did not, the poll found.
The poll, conducted on Monday and Tuesday last week, collected 1,074 valid samples.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
RSS