A Taiwan poll shows that if China attacks Taiwan for reunification, 80% of Taiwanese people surveyed are willing to fight to defend Taiwan, a record high, especially among those under 40 years old with a green stance.
The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) released the poll results of “Taiwan 2020: Public Opinion Values and Governance” on April 16. The Foundation’s Deputy CEO, Eunice Chen, pointed out that on issues related to democratic defense, “If China uses force against Taiwan for the sake of unification,” are people willing to fight to defend Taiwan? The percentage of respondents who said yes was 79.8 percent, up nearly 12 percentage points from 68.2 percent last year. The percentage of those who were unwilling was 12.7%.
On the other option of “if China attacked Taiwan by force as a result of Taiwan’s declaration of independence,” 71.5 percent of respondents were willing to go to war, up 14 percentage points from 57.4 percent last year. The percentage of those who were unwilling was 19.8%. The poll was conducted in May of this year on a sample of 800 local dialects and 400 cell phones.
The willingness to defend Taiwan in the event of independence is actually relatively low, as people seem to feel that if we declare independence it would be a provocation and disruption of the status quo. If we are passive, if China feels that we cannot do without reunification, that we cannot delay any longer, and that we are prepared to attack Taiwan, the whole willingness (of Taiwanese) to defend Taiwan is higher. “
People under 40 years old and green are more willing to protect the battlefield.
The poll found that age group and political party preference affect the willingness to go to war. Cai Jiahong said, “Who exactly is more willing to defend Taiwan? In fact, it’s not surprising, probably the young people, those who tend to be more DPP oriented. On the other side, those who are less willing to defend Taiwan are probably those who are over 40 years old, or those who identify more with the KMT.”
For the option of “still willing to go to war if attacked because of Taiwan’s declaration of independence,” 86% of the respondents were between the ages of 20 and 29, and 60.6% of the respondents were over the age of 60. As for those willing to go to war in the event of Taiwan’s reunification, 89% were between the ages of 20 and 29, while 72.9% were over the age of 60, the lowest.
Radio Free Asia randomly interviewed Taiwanese people and also found that the results are basically in line with the poll. Are they willing to go to war to defend Taiwan? A 24-year-old female office worker of the “Natural Independence” generation said, “I think I would like to, but my mother might not, depending on which Taiwan it is for? It doesn’t matter if it’s the Republic of China, if it’s Taiwan it’s fine! If you don’t fight to protect your country, who knows? I don’t want to be one with them, not since the beginning of time!”
A 59-year-old taxi driver surnamed Chen said, “It’s a lie” when he heard that 80% or 70% of the Taiwanese people who fought for the unification and independence of Taiwan have fought for the war. He mentioned that his father, who is originally from Hubei, followed Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan at the age of 17 to fight in the war, and that it was a lifelong regret that he had to live in a foreign land and did not want to experience the tragedy of war like his father.
The driver, surnamed Chen, said, “Sovereignty is something that politicians shout out! The main thing for us people is to live and work in peace and happiness, our lives are the most important thing.
Chen Zhirou, Deputy Director of the Institute for Social Research at Academia Sinica, pointed out that the percentage of people’s determination to defend Taiwan has grown significantly this year compared to the previous two years, which is related to Xi Jinping’s “one country, two systems” Taiwan proposal, the Communist Party’s continued pressure on Taiwan through cultural attacks and armed intimidation, and the implementation of the National Security Law on Hong Kong. This, coupled with the successful prevention of epidemics in Taiwan and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) receiving the highest popular mandate in history, has increased democratic confidence.
The greater the Chinese Communist threat and U.S. support, the greater the determination of the Taiwanese to defend themselves.
According to Chen Zhirou: “The greater the threat, the greater the determination to defend. The Chinese Communist Party may think that the greater the threat, the less determined to defend, but the reality is that the greater the threat, the greater the determination to defend, and vice versa. The greater Taiwan’s defensive resolve, the more likely it is that the CCP will be motivated to become a greater threat to Taiwan as well.”
Chen Zhirou mentioned that China’s threats of warplanes against Taiwan since August and September, and the so-called “Taiwan spy case” reported by CCTV in the last three days, have not put pressure on Taiwan, nor has Taiwan’s society been destabilized by them, nor have their stocks been shaken, nor have their people’s confidence in the government been diminished. The top brass in Beijing also knew that his purpose was to show his own people that the “Great Party” was exerting constant pressure on Taiwan and to ease public discontent with the Communist Party in other areas.
Chen also said that recent polls conducted by U.S. think tanks show that a majority of Americans are willing to take risks to protect Taiwan from China’s military threats, a situation rarely seen in the past. The more the U.S. supports Taiwan, the stronger Taiwan’s democratic beliefs and defense resolve will be, and vice versa, the higher Taiwan’s democratic beliefs and defense resolve will be, the more the U.S. will be willing to support Taiwan,” Chen argued.
Independence Poll: Over 80% Support Taiwan-US Diplomatic Relations
In addition, at a time of significant progress in U.S.-Taiwan relations, following the KMT’s proposal for “Taiwan-U.S. diplomatic relations” which was passed by the Taiwan Legislative Yuan without opposition across party lines, the independent Taiwan Independence Alliance for National Reconstruction released the results of its “Taiwan-U.S. diplomatic relations” poll on June 16, and as much as 82.5% of the public People support the establishment of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and the United States, while only 8.9% do not. As for the choice of which country to establish diplomatic relations with, 38.3% of the respondents thought Taiwan should be used, while only 20.8% thought the Republic of China should be used.
In addition, 37.2% of respondents believed that Taiwan should take the initiative to establish diplomatic relations, while 45.3% said they should passively accept it. Non-party legislator Chang-tso Lin said he proposed the idea of establishing diplomatic relations between Taiwan and the United States when he visited the U.S. Congress with a delegation from the Legislative Yuan in 2017. At the time, many KMT legislators discouraged him from mentioning such fantastical topics. He also said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should no longer be conservative in saying that there is no plan for the establishment of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and the United States, but should actively promote the establishment of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and the United States in accordance with 80% of public opinion.
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