TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The share of Taiwanese who reject eventual unification with China has risen by 22.7 percentage points over the past two decades as Beijing has steadily expanded its legal framework targeting Taiwan.
The Mainland Affairs Council's latest survey, conducted in March, found that 33.9% of respondents favored maintaining the status quo indefinitely, making it the most popular of the six options, per Liberty Times. Support for maintaining the status quo before deciding later on independence or unification fell to 24.1%.
The survey found 27.8% favored eventual or immediate independence, while 7.8% supported eventual or immediate unification. When combining respondents who favored immediate or eventual independence with those who favored maintaining the status quo indefinitely, 61.7% rejected unification.
In contrast, in 2005, 40.5% of respondents favored maintaining the status quo and deciding later whether to pursue independence or unification, making it the largest of six response categories, Liberty Times reported. Maintaining the status quo indefinitely stood at 19%, while 20% favored eventual or immediate independence and 13.8% supported eventual or immediate unification.
The combined rejection of unification was 39% in 2005.
China has introduced a series of laws over the past 21 years that could affect Taiwanese, including the Anti-Secession Law in 2005 and the “22 Opinions” imposing penalties on what Beijing calls “Taiwan independence die-hards." Most recently, China's Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress took effect on Wednesday.
National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center conducted the poll through telephone interviews from March 19 to 23. They received 1,138 valid responses with a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.91 percentage points.
