Poll indicates majority support independence

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on December 1, 2006. It reports that according to results of a recent survey conducted by the National Chengchi University's Election Study Center, 62 percent of respondents said that they would support Taiwan's formal independence if China were to "allow" the people of Taiwan to decide the country's future. This figure marks an increase of 4.9 percent over a similar survey conducted one year ago.

More significantly, according to the survey, even if Beijing does not "allow" Taiwan to pursue independence, about 54 percent of the respondents still support the pursuit of formal independence.

The survey was part of a three-year comparative study program that aims to explore differences in people's sense of "self-identity" in four Asian territories that have experienced colonial rule and are faced with problems related to historical changes, cultural identity and the notion of "motherland". These four Asian territories are Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Japan's Okinawa. The National Chengchi University is cooperating with the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Okinawa-based University of Ryukyus in this research project, which began in 2005.

The survey was the second of three in the three-year study program that asks the same questions at the same time of year, every year, in the four Asian territories. More than 1,000 valid samples were collected from randomly chosen people aged 18 or above in each of the four places.

According to the survey, people in the four Asian territories varied in their sense of "self-identity", or "local" identity. Specifically, people in Taiwan appeared to have the strongest sense of "self-identity", with 60 percent of the respondents identifying themselves as "Taiwanese". In contrast, 13 percent of Hong Kong respondents identified themselves as "Hongkongers", 15 percent of Macau respondents identified themselves as "Macauese", and 30 percent of Okinawa respondents identified themselves as "Okinawan".

According to organizers, the survey focused on studying the possible influence of China's attitude toward local people's support for independence. Indeed, a cross-analysis of the survey's results indicated that the Chinese government's attitude is no longer a decisive factor for local people in determining whether Taiwan should pursue independence.

Specifically, in the past, Beijing's threat to attack Taiwan or impose economic and diplomatic sanctions tended to deter many local people from supporting any pro-independence campaign. However, results of the aforementioned survey showed a change in the local people's attitude, as many of them appeared to be no longer as strongly influenced by China as they were in the past about the issue.

According to the survey, 89 percent of the respondents said that they would cheer for the Taiwan team in a ball game against a team from China, an increase of 2.5 percent from the previous year. On the other hand, only 16 percent of the respondents said that they did not support the pursuit of Taiwan independence.