Majority of Americans support recognizing Taiwan if China invades: Poll

Washington, Nov. 30 (CNA) A majority of Americans would support recognizing Taiwan as an independent country if China were to invade, but fewer than half would support the United States sending troops to defend Taiwan, the annual Reagan National Defense Survey has found.

According to the survey, 77 percent of Americans now view China as an enemy, while just 15 percent view the nation as an ally, compared to 55 percent seeing China as an enemy and 38 percent seeing it as an ally in 2018 when the poll was first conducted.

Regarding Taiwan, the survey showed that 72 percent of Americans would support officially recognizing Taiwan as an independent country in the event of a Chinese invasion, while just 15 percent would oppose such action.

But when asked if they would support committing American ground troops to defend Taiwan if China invades the island, only 46 percent said they would, according to the survey's results.

After being told that Taiwan has a democratically elected government and is the world's largest producer of advanced semiconductors, 52 percent of respondents said hearing that made them more likely to support committing U.S. forces to Taiwan's defense.

To keep the peace and deter a Chinese invasion, 60 percent of respondents supported increasing the U.S. military presence near Taiwan, while 55 percent supported increasing U.S. arms sales to the island.

Meanwhile, 73 percent of respondents expressed concern about a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, and 64 percent considered Taiwan to be an ally while 15 percent saw it as an enemy.

The survey was conducted from Oct. 27 to Nov. 5 and gathered responses from 2,506 American adults. The estimated margin of error is plus/minus 2.0 percentage points.

The findings were published on Thursday and are part of the annual Reagan National Defense Forum slated for Saturday.