TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Aug. 2-3 visit to Taiwan by United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was welcomed by 52.9%, according to the results of an opinion poll published Tuesday (Aug. 16).
However, 24% did not welcome her, including a majority of 58% of Kuomintang (KMT) supporters, the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation (TPOF) survey revealed.
Considering the wave of Chinese missile launches and military drills close to Taiwan which followed Pelosi’s visit, 52.9% said she still should have gone ahead with the trip, while 33.6% said Taipei should have canceled the visit.
An even larger majority of Taiwanese, 78.3%, said they were not afraid of the Chinese maneuvers, even though they included the firing of ballistic missiles over the country. Only 17.2% expressed fear about the drills.
The TPOF survey also found that 39% of respondents saw a war with China in the imminent future as “somewhat likely,” while 53% said it would be “not very likely or totally unlikely.”
Sentiment about the likelihood of the U.S. sending troops to help defend Taiwan against a Chinese attack was more evenly divided, according to the TPOF poll. A total of 47.5% did not believe Washington would intervene, while 44.1% held the opposite opinion.
The TPOF conducted its poll on Aug. 8-9, resulting in 1,035 valid samples with a margin of error at 3.05%.
