Topic： Poll Survey of Taiwanese Nationals’Perception of the Anti-secession Law

Organizer： Taiwan Thinktank 台灣智庫

Time： Dec. 31, 2004 (Fri.) 10:00AM

Location： Taiwan Thinktank (9 Aiguo W. Rd., 8th Fl., Taipei) 臺北市愛國西路九號八樓

Host： Jiann-Jong Guo 郭建中（Director of Executive Committee at the Taiwan Thinktank)

Panelists：

　Wei-Feng Huang 黃偉峰 (Vice Minister of Mainland Affairs Council)

　Cheng-Yi Lin 林正義（Director of Institute of International Relations at National Chengchi University）

　I-Chung Lai 賴怡忠（Director of Foreign Policy Studies at Taiwan Thinktank）

Key Issues：

　How does the anti-secession law influence the cross-strait relations? How does the anti-secession law influence Taiwan’s democracy? What is Taiwan’s possible response? The impact on Taiwanese nationals’ attitude to national identity and the cross-strait interchange.

【Press Release】 The majority of Taiwanese people refuse to accept the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) plan to enact the “anti-secession law”. Almost 80% of the Taiwanese people disapprove the PRC’s enactment of the “anti-secession law” for overtaking Taiwan by force in the future, according to the new poll conducted by the Taiwan Thinktank. Most of the Taiwanese people think that the PRC’s enactment of the “anti-secession law” will hurt the cross-strait relations. Up to 52.7% of the Taiwanese people think that the “anti-secession law” will deter the resumption of the cross-strait dialogue, while 64% think the enactment of the “anti-secession law” will escalate the tension across the Taiwan Strait. The poll on “Taiwanese Nationals’ Perception of the Anti-secession Law” also shows that Taiwanese people think that the PRC’s planned enactment of the “anti-secession law” will detriment Taiwan’s democracy. About 48.9% of the Taiwanese people are worried that the “anti-secession law” will constrain their freedom of speech. Up to 70% of the Taiwanese people think that the enactment of the “anti-secession law” will further suppress Taiwan’s diplomatic space. Although Taiwanese people are worried that their freedom would be restricted, they still have faith in their democracy. According to the survey, 37.3% of the Taiwanese people think that the law will not affect their freedom of speech. Up to 88.1% of the Taiwanese people think that all the political parties in Taiwan should unite together and stop infighting. There is also 53.7% of the Taiwanese people expects the US to dissuade the PRC from enacting the “anti-secession law”. The poll was conducted by Decision Making Research on December 28 and December 29, 2004. A total of 1070 Taiwan residents were phone-interviewed. Those interviewed were selected by random of the last two digits of telephone numbers. The margin of error is ±3.0 %.

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For further information, please contact research coordinator Chang Hsiao-Ching 張曉菁 (2370-6987 ext 233, cypy@taiwanthinktank.org)