TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Survey data released Monday (April 17) challenges comments made by Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) during his controversial March trip to China, in which the former Taiwan president praised the "1992 consensus."

The Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation (TPOF) survey recorded over 67% of respondents saying they disagreed with the question, “Do you agree or disagree with the core concept of the 1992 Consensus?” The result was 22.5% of people said they did agree, and nearly 8% said they had no opinion.

Results of the survey also conflicted with Ma’s comment that Taiwanese and Chinese people “are all Chinese.” Respondents were asked, “If someone said ‘Taiwan and Mainland China belong to the same China,’ would you agree or disagree?”

Of the six available responses, about 42% of respondents said they “disagree,“ and about 25% said they “somewhat disagree.” About 16% said they “somewhat agree” with the question, and about 7% said they “agree.”

The "1992 consensus" was reached between the governments of Taiwan and China in November 1992 and stated there is only one China, but there were different interpretations as to who the legitimate governing authority is. This interpretation remains highly controversial in Taiwan, and both Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) rejected the terms of the consensus in 2021, saying Taiwanese did not accept the idea of “one country, two systems.”

The TPOF survey polled 1,068 Taiwanese adults over 20 years old via landline phone over three days in April, shortly after Ma returned from China. The foundation's Chairperson Ying-lung You (游盈隆) said that the survey findings convey a clear message.

Public opinion in Taiwan clearly does not accept the core concepts of the 1992 consensus, You said. Regardless of age, You said a majority of all groups surveyed did not agree that both China and Taiwan belong to one China, and the younger respondents were even more likely to disagree with this statement.

The "1992 consensus" is known to be interpreted differently by the two parties to the agreement. Whereas the Kuomintang (KMT) says the agreement means there is one China that includes both Taiwan and Mainland China, and both are part of the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) asserts that both territories are part of the political entity, the People’s Republic of China.

You said that no matter if respondents were asked specifically about the consensus as it is understood by the KMT or the CCP, the survey results show that the majority disagree with its fundamental premise. The CCP’s understanding of the "1992 consensus" received the most disagreement from the survey respondents, at 83.5%.