Record 83% of people in Taiwan identify as Taiwanese amid Wuhan virus outbreak

Percentage of people identifying themselves as Taiwanese soars to new high as Wuhan virus ravages China

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/24
By:  Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As the Wuhan coronavirus continues to rage, a poll has found that over 83 percent of the people of Taiwan identify themselves as Taiwanese, the highest level since 1991.

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 (Feb. 24), found that 83.2 percent of Taiwan's citizens consider themselves Taiwanese, reported Liberty Times. At the same time, the proportion of people who think of themselves as Chinese or having a dual identity has halved since September of last year, reaching the lowest level in 30 years.

In its latest survey results for the month of February, survey participants were asked, "Do you think you are Taiwanese or Chinese, or do you have another identity?" Of those who responded, 83.2 percent view themselves as Taiwanese, followed by 5.3 percent who consider themselves Chinese, while 6.7 percent claim to be both Taiwanese and Chinese and 4.8 percent have no opinion or refused to answer the question.

The poll was a continuation of a survey that commenced in 1991 and was titled "A Study of Voting Behavior in Taiwan: the 1991 Election for the Members of National Assembly." TPOF Chairman You Ying-lung (游盈隆) pointed out that the survey results showed that those respondents who identify themselves as Taiwanese has reached the highest point since climbing to 83 percent in 1991.    [FULL  STORY]