Nearly 60% would 'resist' Chinese invasion without U.S. help: Survey

Washington, March 11 (CNA) Nearly 60 percent of respondents in Taiwan said they would "resist" a Chinese invasion even without U.S. military support, while fewer now view the United States as a credible country, according to results of an "American Portrait Project" survey released Thursday by Academia Sinica.

In the survey conducted from Jan. 20-26, 1,206 Taiwanese adults answered questions on U.S.-Taiwan-China relations, defense spending and deterrence, the credibility of the U.S. security commitment to Taiwan, and their willingness to fight in a crisis.

The survey found that 58.7 percent of respondents said they would resist a Chinese invasion even if the United States did not intervene, with 41.2 percent saying "definitely yes" and 17.5 percent "probably yes." About 36.2 percent said they would not resist, including 21.7 percent "definitely not" and 14.5 percent "probably not," while 5.1 percent declined to answer.

If the United States were to intervene, 56.5 percent of respondents said they would resist a Chinese invasion, including 34.4 percent who said "definitely yes" and 22.1 percent "probably yes." About 34.8 percent said they would not resist, with 21.7 percent "definitely not" and 13.1 percent "probably not," while 8.7 percent declined to answer.

The survey, which also asked respondents about their political party preference and level of support, was released at an online press conference organized by Academia Sinica in collaboration with the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Pan Hsin-hsin (潘欣欣), an associate research fellow at Academia Sinica's Institute of Sociology, said overall willingness to resist at all costs is driven by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters, while Kuomintang and Taiwan People's Party supporters lower the proportion.

Pan added that DPP supporters' willingness to defend Taiwan remains unchanged regardless of U.S. intervention.

Meanwhile, just over half of respondents (53.5 percent) said they support raising Taiwan's defense budget to 3 percent of GDP, while about 31.1 percent opposed it. The survey also showed strong support for purchasing U.S. weapons, with 69.5 percent in favor.

Wu Wen-chin (吳文欽), a research fellow at Academia Sinica's Institute of Political Science, said the latest data revealed that only about 34 percent of respondents view the United States as a credible country, down from 45 percent in 2021.

On whether China is a credible country, Wu said the proportion of Taiwanese respondents expressing trust rose from about 11 percent in 2025 to 17 percent.

He noted that Taiwanese respondents view the U.S. and China very differently in terms of credibility, with far more people seeing the United States as trustworthy than China.

This survey was conducted via telephone interviews and had a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.82 percentage points.