Majority of adults would take up arms if China invaded: survey

Taipei, May 20 (CNA) More than half of the adults in Taiwan would be willing to take up arms if China attacked the country, a survey conducted and released by the Association of Chinese Elite Leadership (ACEL) suggested Friday.

According to the survey, 61.4 percent of respondents said they were willing to take up arms to defend Taiwan if attacked by China, while 25.1 percent said they were not.

Speaking at an ACEL press event, Deputy Secretary-General of the Taiwan Society of International Law Lin Ting-hui (林廷輝), a former National Security Council assistant researcher, said 61.4 percent was high, citing an earlier foreign survey in which support for fighting a war if invaded was lower in both Ukraine and Sweden.

Lin was referring to a 2015 survey conducted by WIN/Gallup International, an American market research and polling company, in which residents of different Europeans countries were asked if they would be willing to fight for their country in the event of war.

In the poll 59 percent of Ukrainians and 55 percent of Swedes said they would fight.

The determination of Taiwanese to defend the country and their faith in the nation's military could be related to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, Cross-Strait Policy Association researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said at the press event.

That conflict has given Taiwanese a new perspective on the Taiwan-China situation, as people have seen how Russia's invasion of Ukraine has turned into a quagmire, Wu explained.

Taiwan NextGen Foundation chief Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) said it is notable that 49.8 percent of respondents who claimed to support the Kuomintang said they would not fight, as did 47.6 percent who said they supported the Taiwan People's Party.

At the event, Chen did not disclose the supporters of which political party made up the majority of the 61.4 percent willing to fight, though the implication was clearly that they belonged to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

According to the ACEL, respondents were asked during questioning to say what political party they supported, if any.

Although a majority said they would fight, 68.5 percent of those polled also said they hoped to see cross-strait relations gradually improve and exchanges take place as the COVID-19 situation eases, Chen said.

This indicates that cross-strait relations may still be moving in the right direction rather than toward intractable enmity, he added.

The ACEL poll was conducted from May 18-19, targeting individuals aged 20 or older.

The poll received 1,073 valid samples, with interviews conducted via telephone, and has a margin of error of 2.98 percent, with a 95 percent level of confidence.