Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/19
By: Shine Chen and Kuo Chung-han
Taipei, Aug. 19 (CNA) Most people in Taiwan think China is the most threatening Asian
CNA file photo
economy to Taiwan’s economic development but they also see China as the most helpful economy to Taiwan, according to a survey released Friday.
The poll showed that 61.9 percent of Taiwanese view China as the most threatening economy in Asia to Taiwan’s economic development, 43.3 percent named South Korea, 13.8 percent Japan, 6.4 percent Vietnam, and 4.8 percent Singapore.
However, China was also identified by 25.8 percent of the respondents as the economy that is most helpful to Taiwan’s economic development, followed by the United States (23.4 percent) and Japan (12.0 percent), in the poll commissioned by the Association of Foreign Relations (AFR), a non-profit organization that promotes Taiwan’s foreign and cross-strait relations.
In light of the Taiwan people’s complex and ambivalent attitude toward China in economic terms, the Taiwan government should try to join both the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), said AFR Secretary-General Huang Kwei-bo (黃奎博). [FULL STORY]
