Taiwan on its way to solely Taiwanese identity: academics
Taiwan News
Date: 2017/01/07
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A total of 43 percent of Taiwanese younger than 40 support independence for
the island, even if it meant China would launch a military attack, according to a poll mentioned by four Taiwanese academics in a letter to the Washington Post.
“The Taiwanese see themselves as Taiwanese, not as Chinese,” reads the title on the analysis piece published by the authoritative United States newspaper in its Monkey Cage section and written by Fang-Yu Chen, Wei-ting Yen, Austin Horng-en Wang and Bryan Hioe.
In the piece explaining the background to relations between Taiwan and China, the four authors say that attitudes on the island have not been static, and reject U.S. President Barack Obama’s statement that the Taiwanese “won’t charge forward and declare independence” “as long as they can function with ‘some degree of autonomy.’”
The authors quote a survey conducted by the Election Study Center at National Chengchi University originated by Duke University political scientist Emerson Niu. [FULL STORY]