PANAMA REACTION?A majority of people said that President Tsai Ing-wen should adjust her cross-strait policy, while 54.8 percent said they supported independence
Taipei Times
Date: Jun 21, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
Nearly 90 percent of the public wants the nation to be “normalized” following Panama’s switch of
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Gao Jyh-peng, second left, Ketagalan Foundation chief executive Chen Chih-chung, right, and representatives of the Taiwan Brain Trust in Taipei yesterday discuss the results of an opinion poll conducted after Panama switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing, but there is a drop in Taiwanese identification as China steps up its aggressive tactics, a poll released yesterday showed.
Taiwan should move toward becoming a “normalized” nation, according to 88.2 percent of respondents, while only 4.4 percent were not in favor of the idea.
Seventy-five percent said that Taiwan and China are different nations and 14.2 percent said they are the same.
Panama’s move had a negative impact on cross-strait relations, according to 58.7 percent of the respondents, while 19.3 percent said it had a positive influence, the Taiwan Brain Trust survey showed.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) condemnation of China for its “one China” principle and her refusal to engage in “pocketbook diplomacy” was approved by 46.6 percent of the respondents, while 39.5 percent disapproved. [FULL STORY]
