Nearly 70 percent of Taiwanese support President William Lai’s (賴清德) rejection of China’s claims over Taiwan as outlined in his Double Ten National Day address, according to the results of a survey announced on Thursday by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC).
Of the more than 1,000 respondents to the survey following Lai’s speech on Oct. 10, 68.8 percent supported Lai’s statement that “the Republic of China (ROC) has already put down roots in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, and the ROC and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are not subordinate to each other,” the MAC said.
Almost 70 percent of interviewees also backed Lai’s remark that “the PRC has no right to represent Taiwan,” MAC Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news conference.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, the survey found that 87.3 percent of the respondents opposed “the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) holding military drills around Taiwan recently.”
After Lai delivered his speech on Oct. 10, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs later that day slammed him for using different means to “sell the fallacy of ‘Taiwan independence.’”
Beijing went on to conduct the “Joint Sword-2024B” military drills on Monday last week, which covered areas around Taiwan and involved the China Coast Guard, along with the army, navy, air force and rocket force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
The survey showed that mainstream public opinion in Taiwan supports Lai’s cross-strait stance and the policy outlined in his National Day address, “firmly opposing the CCP’s coercive political claims and military intimidation,” the MAC said in a statement.
The survey, commissioned by the council, was conducted by market research company Ipsos from Thursday to Sunday last week through telephone interviews with adults aged 20 and above in Taiwan.
According to the council, 1,073 valid samples were collected, with a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 2.99 percentage points.
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