The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) published the results of a public opinion survey today, showing that 85.4 percent of the population supports the statement “when Taiwan’s political parties engage in cross-strait exchanges with China, they should prioritize the protection of Taiwan’s interests.” As to visits to Taiwan by high-ranking Chinese officials, as high as 74.4 percent of the respondents believe that any issue involving the rights and interests of the Taiwanese people should be discussed first with the government. In addition, more than half (54.9 percent) of the population agrees that the government should play the leading role in cross-strait negotiations. This is aimed at taking Taiwan’s overall interests into consideration.
This routine survey also shows the Taiwanese public’s concerns regarding the bird flu outbreaks in China. The survey shows that 86 percent of the respondents worry that the bird flu outbreak in China would spread to Taiwan. In addition, 86.6 percent of the respondents believe that if the bird flu outbreak situation begins to deteriorate in China, it will be necessary for the government to impose restrictions on cross-strait interaction. Furthermore, since China has long interfered with the cooperative efforts between Taiwan and the World Health Organization (WHO), this survey shows that 53.1 percent of the surveyed is worried that once Taiwan is attacked by a bird flu epidemic, China will again interfere with the assistance provided by the WHO or other countries.
As for other cross-strait issues that appear regularly in MAC’s public opinion surveys, the MAC indicated that the results of the latest survey do not differ greatly from those of previous surveys. On the issue of direct cross-strait flights, 76 percent of the respondents believe in “conditional liberalization,” and only 12.9 percent believe in “unconditional liberalization.” This is consistent with previous survey results. As for government’s restrictions on China-bound investment by Taiwanese businesses, nearly 60 percent (57.8 percent) of the respondents believe that the government should remain “slightly tight.”
The MAC also indicated that 68.4 percent of the respondents still support the development of foreign relations, even if it strains relations across the Strait. The public’s stance on unification vs. independence shows the same results as previous surveys, with an overwhelming majority (82.1 percent) in favor of maintaining the status quo. Also, an overwhelming majority (78.3 percent) are opposed to developing cross-strait relations under China’s so-called “one country, two systems” policy.
This survey was conducted over the phone by National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center from November 25 to 27, 2005. The respondents were Taiwanese adult citizens aged 20 and over. There were 1,102 valid samples in this survey, with statistical significance at 95 percent of confidence interval and a sampling error of +/-2.96 percent.