Taipei, Feb. 27 (CNA) A survey on Taiwanese national identity indicates that 33.4 percent of the respondents believe that the so-called "1992 consensus" reached between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait in 1992 is favorable to Taiwan's development.

The percentage was higher than the 20.5 percent of respondents who held the opposite opinion when asked about the "1992 consensus," which the Ma Ying-jeou administration stands by, according to the survey results released Wednesday by the Taiwan Competitiveness Forum, a Taipei-based think tank.

According to the consensus, the two sides of the strait agree that there is only one China, with each side free to interpret the meaning of "one China."

The poll results also show that 30.2 percent of the respondents think the consensus "will not interrupt Taiwan's development."

"Whether Taiwanese people are Chinese" has been an issue on the island in the past decade, and the survey results indicate that while 32.8 percent of the respondents identify themselves as Taiwanese, they would not deny that they are also Chinese.

Meanwhile, 22.9 percent insist that they are purely Taiwanese, with the added emphasis that they are not Chinese, and 21.7 percent said they are both Taiwanese and Chinese.

With China's rise, 52.5 percent of the respondents said Taiwan should regard the rise as an opportunity that should be exploited "with care," with 14.9 percent regarding it as an opportunity that should be seized actively, while 18.7 percent see the rise as a threat that should be faced with care.

Taiwan Competitiveness Forum Chairman Thomas Peng said the poll results show an increase in the number of Taiwanese people who are open to being identified as Chinese, amid a rise in the amount of cross-strait interactions in various fields.

The survey was conducted Feb. 20-21 through telephone interviews of people aged 20 and over who were randomly selected from 22 counties and cities around Taiwan.

There were 1,092 valid samples collected and the survey had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

(By Wen Kuei-hsiang and Elizabeth Hsu)
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