December 25, 2014
MAC News Release No. 111
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today (December 25, 2014) announced the results of the latest routine public opinion survey of general views on cross-strait policy this year. The survey results indicated that the great majority of the public agree that "peaceful and stable cross-strait relations are conducive to Taiwan's overall interests and future development" (70%) and support the government's position of maintaining the cross-strait status quo of "no unification, no independence, and no use of force" under the framework of the ROC Constitution (65.3%).
The MAC indicated that 80% of the people surveyed this time agree that the two sides should continue to carry out private exchanges in various fields (80.9%), approve the government's continued promotion of normalization of official cross-strait interaction (77.1%), and support the continued handling of cross-strait exchange issues through institutionalized negotiations (74.8%). Moreover, 60% of the public feel that, if the government were to successfully engage in trade and economic cooperation negotiations with other countries and participate in regional economic integration, it would increase the Taiwan public's confidence in cross-strait economic and trade liberalization (61.3%).
The poll also showed that nearly 70% (67.6%) of the public showed support for the Legislative Yuan to promptly complete the Cross-Strait Agreement Supervisory Act’s legislation. With regards to the Legislative Yuan's upcoming review of the Cross-Strait Agreement Supervisory Act, a majority of the public expressed support for current cross-strait negotiations on issues such as trade in goods and establishment of reciprocal institutions to also proceed as scheduled (57.4%); furthermore, the polls showed support (55.6%) for agreements highly relevant to the people’s livelihoods and which do not involve legislative amendments, such as the seismic monitoring agreement and meteorological cooperation agreement, to take effect if legislative procedures were yet completed within a certain period following its submission to the Legislative Yuan for reference.
The MAC stated the survey results showed that the government's Mainland policy is still supported and affirmed by the mainstream public. In response to the different views concerning the development of cross-strait relations and related issues voiced this year, the government will conduct active communication with the various sectors of society, consolidate broader consensus, and work to build majority public support. In the future, the government will adhere to the public opinion basis and insist on the set policy position in continuous promotion of cross-strait exchange, interaction, and negotiations on issues beneficial to the country, the well-being of the people, and to the ongoing peaceful and stable development of cross-strait relations.
Regarding other cross-strait issues observed over the long term by the MAC, the survey indicated that people in favor of "maintaining the status quo defined in a broad sense" still account for the great majority of the public (84%). As for views on the current pace of cross-strait exchanges, 37.8% of the public believe it to be "just right," followed by the percentages believing the pace to be "too fast" and "too slow" at 28.6% and 16.8%, respectively, while 16.8% of the public had no opinion.
The MAC commissioned the Election Study Center of National Chengchi University to conduct a telephone survey of adults aged 20 and over in Taiwan from December 6 to 9, 2014. A total of 1,081 valid samples were collected, with a sampling error of plus or minus 2.98% at a 95% level of confidence.