Huge majority of Taiwanese reject 'one country, two systems': Poll

Taipei, April 25 (CNA) More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese continue to disagree with Beijing's "one country, two systems" stance on dealing with cross-Taiwan Strait relations, according to the latest survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council on Thursday.

The poll found that 84.4 percent of respondents oppose the "one country, two systems" concept, in line with past answers obtained by the quarterly MAC survey.

Over the past three years, the percentage of respondents opposing "one country, two systems" has consistently remained between a low of 83.6 percent, seen in April 2023, and a high of 89.6 percent, seen in April 2024.

In the most recent survey, 82.5 percent of respondents rejected China's claim that "Taiwan is a part of China's territory and has never been a country" and 80.6 percent disagreed with China's insistence on the "one-China" principle.

At the same time, 79.1 percent supported the view that the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China (PRC, China) do not belong to each other, another result that mirrored previous surveys.

Support for that proposition has vacillated between around 74 percent and a peak of 82.2 percent in May 2022 over the past three years, even if it has been more widely articulated publicly since President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) took office in May 2024.

When respondents were asked toward the current cross-strait status, more than 85 percent favored maintaining the status quo.

This included 36 percent who preferred to keep the status quo permanently, 25.9 percent who wanted to decide Taiwan's future at a later time, and 19.9 percent who supported maintaining the status quo for now but ultimately favor independence.

Regarding China's influence operations in Taiwan, 73.7 percent of respondents believed that the Chinese Communist Party is intensifying its infiltration of Taiwanese society, while 70.9 percent supported requiring all elected representatives, including lawmakers, to obtain government permission before engaging with China.

In addition, 56.9 percent of respondents said that when Chinese nationals apply to enter Taiwan, the government should consider whether they are linked to China's unification strategy.

The survey also addressed recent controversies in Taiwanese society, including the revocation of residence permits for two Chinese spouses of Taiwanese citizens who allegedly advocated for China's annexation of Taiwan.

On this issue, 67.8 percent of respondents supported the government's decision to revoke the individuals' residence permits and deport them.

Meanwhile, 70.9 percent of respondents said the Beijing government is "unfriendly" toward Taipei, compared to just 15.5 percent who considered it "friendly."

The survey was conducted by National Chengchi University's Election Study Center via telephone interviews from April 17 to 21. It collected 1,099 valid samples from respondents aged 20 or older and had a margin of error of 2.96 percentage points.