49% of Taiwanese confident in own military's ability to defend against Chinese attack

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/09/29
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As China continues to menace Taiwan with aggressive military actions, a new poll released on Monday (Sept. 28) shows that 60 percent of Taiwanese believe that the U.S. would send troops to defend Taiwan.

The latest poll by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation (TPOF, 台灣民意基金會), which was released at a press conference on Monday, found that 60 percent of Taiwanese adults over the age of 20 believe that if China used force against Taiwan, the U.S. may send troops to defend the country, with 33 percent disagreeing. TPOF Chairman You Ying-lung (游盈隆) said that this finding shows that the vast majority of Taiwanese believe at this moment that if China uses force to invade Taiwan, the U.S. military may step in to defend Taiwan.

Specifically, poll recipients were asked the following question: "If China used force against Taiwan, do you think the U.S. would send troops to help [defend] Taiwan?" In response, 24.1 percent chose "very likely"; 35.9 percent selected "it is possible"; 20 percent opted for "unlikely"; 13.4 percent checked "impossible"; and 6.6 percent did not have an opinion, did not comment, or refused to answer the question.

You said that this shows the change in the psychological state of the Taiwanese people in response to the recent wave of U.S. policy changes towards Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]