AMERICANS DIVIDED OVER WHETHER US SHOULD HELP DEFEND TAIWAN
Washington, Sept. 1 (CNA) Americans are divided evenly over whether the United States should help defend Taiwan if it is attacked by Communist China, but if doing so would start a wider war between the United States and Communist China, six in ten Americans do not want Washington involved in a military conflict across the Taiwan Strait, according to a new opinion poll.
Forty-seven percent of Americans say in a new ABC News poll that the United States should help defend Taiwan, while 48 percent say no -- a statistically even split. However, if defending Taiwan meant directly getting into a war with Communist China, opposition to US involvement increases to 63 percent.
This survey was conducted by telephone Aug. 25-29 among a random national sample of 1,017 American adults, with a three-percentage point error margin in the results, said ABC News Wednesday.
Americans are often skeptical about military action abroad. Each case depends on its own set of facts, but support seems largely premised on two factors: whether the action is in the vital interests of the United States, or if there is an overwhelming humanitarian need, ABC News pointed out.
The latter was the case in Kosovo, where American support for allied bombing rose from 26 percent two weeks before NATO began its air strike campaign against Yugoslavia to 60 percent after it started bombing. (By Nelson Chung)
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