Taiwanese hold mildly positive views on both Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) trip to Central America and former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) trip to China, a Foundation for the People survey showed.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), who also serves as president of the foundation, presented the poll data at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Taiwanese scored Tsai’s visit to Taiwan’s diplomatic allies Guatemala and Belize, along with her stopover in the US, as 5.56 out of 10, he said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Asked about Ma’s trip to China, during which he made several mentions of the Republic of China and its Constitution, Taiwanese scored the trip 5.66 out of 10, he said.
The poll showed a clear party-line response, with self-identified pan-green supporters scoring Tsai’s trip 7.72, and pan-blue respondents 4.14.
Ma’s trip showed opposite levels of support, with a 3.59 among pan-green supporters and 7.49 among pan-blue respondents, the survey showed.
Those who said they have no party affiliation, comprising 42 percent of the respondents, scored Tsai’s trip at 5.57 and Ma’s trip at 5.75, Chiang said.
The same survey also asked respondents about their view on the relationship between Taiwan, the US and China, he said.
About half of the population, 50.3 percent, said that Taiwan should keep equal distance from the US and China, while 38.4 percent said that Taiwan should lean closer to the US, while 6.9 percent preferred closer ties with China, the survey showed.
More than half of the population, 61 percent, agreed with the statement that “Taiwan is a pawn in the US-China rivalry,” while 34.9 percent disagreed.
The results show that Taiwanese are generally “rational and practical” regarding their position between China and the US, Chiang said.
Regarding national security, 62.3 percent of respondents advocated for cross-strait exchanges, while 23.1 percent thought that an absence of exchanges would be more beneficial to national security, the survey showed.
As for cross-strait relations, 44.1 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with Ma’s handling of relations, opposed to 36.9 percent for Tsai, it showed.
The survey showed large discrepancies across party lines on cross-strait and foreign affairs issues, with opposing positions presenting more risks than opportunities, Chiang said.
The poll, which was conducted on Friday and Saturday last week, and gathered 1,088 valid samples from Internet users, has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
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