Nearly 80 percent of the public support the continued handling of cross-strait exchange issues through institutionalized negotiations.
As high as 74.8 percent of the public support the government's policy of maintaining the status quo in the Taiwan Strait under the principle of "no unification, no independence, and no use of force."
49.4 percent of the public identify with the government's position on the "1992 Consensus", and 48.4 percent of the public agree with basing institutionalized cross-strait negotiations on the "the 1992 Consensus — one China with respective interpretations."
Over 55 percent of the public believe that cross-strait relations have become more relaxed under the Ma Administration.
The overwhelming majority of the public (87.2 percent) still supports maintaining the status quo defined in a broader sense (including "Maintaining the status quo and deciding on independence or unification later," "Maintaining the status quo and unification later," "Maintaining the status quo and independence later," and "Maintaining the status quo indefinitely").
I. Survey Background and Methods
To understand the Taiwan people's views on issues related to cross-strait relations, the MAC commissioned the Election Study Center of National Chengchi University to conduct a telephone survey of adults aged 20 and over in the Taiwan Area from September 2 to 5, 2011. A total of 1,069 effective samples were collected, with a sampling error of 3 percent based on a 95 percent confidence level.
II. Major Findings
(1) Views on institutionalized cross-strait negotiations
77.6 percent of the public support the handling of issues related to cross-strait exchanges through institutionalized negotiations, while 10.0 percent do not support this.
(2) Views on Mainland policy
As high as 74.8 percent of the public support the government in maintaining the status quo in the Taiwan Strait under the principle of "no unification, no independence, and no use of force," while only 16.6 percent do not support this.
(3) Views on the government's position on the "1992 Consensus"
49.4 percent of the public identify with the government's position on the "1992 Consensus — one China with respective interpretations," with “one China” meaning the Republic of China. Moreover, 48.4 percent of the public approve the government's approach of resuming institutionalized cross-strait negotiations on the basis of the "1992 Consensus — one China with respective interpretations." Furthermore, 51.7 percent of the public disagree with the statement that "the 1992 Consensus is a consensus between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Communist Party of China (CPC)," higher than the percentage (25.1 percent) agreeing with this formulation.
(4) Views on the pace of cross-strait exchanges
Regarding the current pace of cross-strait exchanges, 46.4 percent of the public believe the pace is "just right," while 29.5 percent believe it is "too fast" and 14.4 percent believe it is "too slow."
(5) Views on overall cross-strait relations
Over 50 percent of the public (55.2 percent) believe that cross-strait relations under the Ma Administration have become "more relaxed," higher than the percentages believing relations are "more tense" (9.0 percent) and "unchanged" (30.2 percent).
(6) Views on unification or independence
The overwhelming majority of the public (87.2 percent) supports maintaining the status quo defined in a broader sense (including "Maintaining the status quo and deciding on independence or unification later," "Maintaining the status quo and unification later," "Maintaining the status quo and independence later," and "Maintaining the status quo indefinitely"). Of the six possible positions on this issue, "Maintaining the status quo and deciding on independence or unification later" enjoys the highest level of support (33.6 percent), followed by "Maintaining the status quo indefinitely" (25.9 percent).
(7) Public perception on the attitude of the Mainland government toward Taiwan
51.5 percent of the public believe the Mainland government's attitude toward the ROC government is "unfriendly," higher than the percentage (31.2 percent) believing it is "friendly." Regarding the Mainland government's attitude toward the Taiwan people, 44.7 percent of the public believe it is friendly, while 41.5 percent believe it is unfriendly.