TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In a poll released on Tuesday (March 22), nearly 60% of respondents said they believe that if Taiwan is faced with an invasion by China, it will have to do so alone, and 78% do not believe the country is capable of stopping an invasion by Chinese forces on its own.

In the latest survey by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation (TPOF, 台灣民意基金會), respondents were asked if they are worried about whether Taiwan would have to face an invasion by People's Liberation Army (PLA) forces alone. In response, 59.7% said they are concerned and 37.5% said they are not..

When asked if Taiwan has the ability to fight off a PLA invasion alone, 78% said it's impossible and 15.8% said it is possible. Asked if they believe that the U.S. military would help defend Taiwan in the event of such an invasion, 55.9% said they do not believe the U.S. would participate, while 34.5% said they do think the country would step in.

Meanwhile, 48.6% said they did not believe Japan would intervene on Taiwan's behalf, while 43.1% said they do think Japan would take part. Asked whether Taiwan's current mandatory four-month military conscription is adequate, 76.8% said it is not, while only 14.8% deemed it to be reasonable.

When asked if the conscription period should be extended to "at least one year," 75.9% agreed and 17.8% disagreed.

The survey was conducted for the TPOF by Focus Survey Research (山水民意研究公司) from March 14-15. The poll gathered valid responses from 1,077 adults aged 20 and over via telephone and had a sampling error of plus or minus 2.99% with a confidence level of 95%.