The Guardian-Taiwan poll shows dip in US trust amid growing concern over China
November 23, 2023 2 min 421 words
这份调查揭示了台湾社会在日益紧张的国际环境中的困境。超过80%的台湾人认为来自中国的威胁近年来有所加剧，而对美国的信任也在过去两年中下降，部分原因是乌克兰战争损害了华盛顿的信誉。调查显示，只有9.3%的台湾人认为中国是一个“可信”国家，而82.7%的人认为中国的威胁近年来有所加剧。对美国稳定伙伴的信心也不高，只有34%的人认为美国是一个可信赖的国家，较2021年下降了超过11个百分点。这反映了台湾对美国在台湾问题上的支持的下降。这一切发生在即将举行的总统选举之前，可能对台湾与世界两大超级大国的关系产生深远影响。台湾社会的这些观点和担忧，不仅对岛内政治形势有着重要影响，也在国际关系中投下了一颗不稳定的因子。
More than 80% of Taiwanese people think that the threat from China has worsened in recent years, while trust in the United States has also declined in the past two years, in part because of the war in Ukraine damaging Washington’s credibility.
The results of a survey published this week reveal a portrait of Taiwanese society that is under increasing pressure as the self-governing island heads towards a presidential election in January that could have far reaching ramifications for its relationship with the world’s two biggest superpowers.
The American Portrait survey of 1,211 adults was conducted in September by the Institute of European and American Studies at Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s top research institution. The findings were published on 20 November.
It found that only 9.3% of the Taiwanese people think China is a “credible” country and that 82.7% think the threat from China has worsened in recent years.
The survey also revealed low levels of confidence in the US to be a stable partner for Taiwan. Only 34% of people agreed that the US was a trustworthy country, a drop of more than 11 percentage points since 2021.
“We suspect that the drop may come from the occurrence of the Ukraine war and how the United States government responded to the Ukraine war making a reference to Taiwan. People in Taiwan imagine that if a war breaks out in Taiwan, how will the US government respond to it?” said Hsin-Hsin Pan, an associate professor at the Department of Sociology at Soochow University.
The percentage of people who agreed that China is a “credible” country has fallen from 13.5% in 2021 to 9.3% this year, in line with falling support for unification between Taiwan and China.
Regarding identity, 78.4% of respondents said Taiwan and China do not belong to the same country. That finding was reflected across the political spectrum, with agreement from both DPP and KMT supporters. The incumbent DPP is seen as being pro-independence – although it has not formally declared that position – while the KMT supports closer ties with Beijing.
More than 60% of respondents considered themselves Taiwanese, compared with just 2.3% who said they identified as Chinese.
In terms of national defence, 65.9% support US arms sales to Taiwan. And a similar proportion said the public promise of US president, Joe Biden, to defend Taiwan would increase their likelihood that the US would send troops to help Taiwan in the event of an assault from Chinese forces.