TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — According to an opinion poll released on Monday (Oct. 3), Taiwanese gave the U.S. a moderate score in terms of "likability" while they gave China very low marks in the category.

On Monday, Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) led a press conference about the latest poll by the Foundation for the People (啟思民本基金會), which he also chairs. When asked to rate the U.S. in terms of "likability" on a scale of one to 10, they gave the U.S. a 5.55, while China came in at 2.82.

China's low score prompted Chiang to advise the Chinese Communist Party to "pay special attention to the perceptions of the Taiwanese people." Chiang said that the pressure on Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) to resort to using force against Taiwan is growing and the easing of the confrontation and tensions across the strait is a serious issue that the ruling party in Taiwan must face.

When asked if they had heard of the proposed "Taiwan Policy Act," 77% said they had heard of the bill. Asked whether the proposed bill offering US$6.5 billion (NT$206 billion) in military aid would undermine Taiwan's independent defense capabilities, 26.5% of respondents "strongly agreed" that it would, 23.6% "agreed," 19.1% "disagreed," and 23.9% "strongly disagreed."

Posed with the question of whether the U.S. would send troops to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, 21.6% said "definitely," 26.5% said it "might," 18.2% said it "might not," and 27.4% said that the U.S. "definitely will not."

Amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and China, 39.5% said they think Taiwan should "move closer to the U.S.," 46.8% said Taiwan should maintain the same distance from the U.S. and China, and 7.5% think Taiwan should "move closer to China."

When asked if Taiwan should avoid becoming involved in a competition between the U.S. and China, 33.6% "strongly agree," 31.8% "somewhat agree," 15.6% "disagree," and 12.9% "strongly disagree." Lastly, 62.6% of people believe that the pressure by Xi to "solve the Taiwan problem by force" is gradually increasing and only 28.4% think that it is similar to the past.

The survey was conducted by the Foundation for the People from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2. The poll gathered valid responses from 1,078 adults 18 and over and had a sampling error of plus or minus 3.0% with a confidence level of 95%.