Date: May 16, 2019
MAC Press Release No. 51
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today (May 16, 2019) announced the results of its latest public opinion survey. More than 80% of the people surveyed oppose the numerous threatening military actions recently conducted by the Mainland authorities near Taiwan (82%), as well as Beijing's refusal to renounce the use force against Taiwan (82.6%). Nearly 90% oppose mainland China's obstruction of Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly, which denied the health rights and interests of the Taiwanese people (87.7%). The mainstream also opposes Mainland China's "one country, two systems" formula (83.6%). The survey findings further showed that nearly 80% of the public support the government's commitment to safeguarding national sovereignty and Taiwan's free and democratic system (78.5%). Nearly 90% firmly believe that Taiwan's future and the development of cross-Strait relations must be decided by the 23 million people of Taiwan (89.3%), reflecting broad public support in Taiwan for the government's position on defending Taiwan.
The MAC emphasized that the Republic of China is a sovereign state. Mainland China's "one country, two systems" is to eliminate the sovereignty of the Republic of China. The people of Taiwan will never accept this. The survey showed that more than 80% of the public oppose Beijing's united front work to infiltrate, win over, and divide Taiwan (82.2%). More than 70% of the public support the government's initiatives to amend laws and regulations in order to strengthen management mechanisms aimed at countering mainland China's "one country, two systems model for Taiwan" and safeguarding national security based on President Tsai Ing-wen's "seven guidelines" (72.8%). A similar percentage of the public approve the government's completion of draft amendments to national security laws and continuous efforts to amend the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area in conjunction with other laws, which fortify the "security network for democracy" (75%). Similar support was found for the government's actions to establish a high threshold democratic oversight mechanism involving congressional review and public referendums for cross-Strait negotiations on political issues (68.1%) and promptly complete mechanisms to counter Mainland China's infiltration and united front work (69.6%).
The survey results also found that more than 80% of the public oppose mainland China's repeated attempts to influence the elections’ outcome in Taiwan through verbal intimidation and saber rattling during the election period (81.2%). Over 70% of the public approve the government's position of seeking support from the international community for Taiwan's right of international participation (75.8%). Cross analysis of the survey results showed that the majority of the public, regardless of party-leaning, oppose the negative actions imposed by the Mainland China upon Taiwan, while supporting the government's firm policy position.
The MAC indicated that the mainland China has seriously undermined the status quo in the Taiwan Strait by accelerating promotion of cross-Strait unification and expanding its united front work to intimidate, pressure, and divide Taiwan. The people of Taiwan should clearly recognize the nature of Beijing's attempts to annex Taiwan and refuse to echo such political views. The government of Taiwan will firmly defend the nation’s sovereignty and democracy. Once again, we sternly warned the other side to not miscalculate public opinion in Taiwan nor misjudge the situation. The only way to support a benign development of cross-Strait relations is to stop malicious provocations against Taiwan.
The MAC commissioned the Taiwan Real Survey Co. to conduct a telephone survey of adults aged 20 and over in Taiwan from May 10 to 12, 2019. A total of 1,088 valid samples were collected, with a sampling error of ±2.97% at a 95% confidence level.