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Public increasingly optimistic about U.S. troops coming to Taiwan's aid: Poll

ROC Central News Agency

02/21/2023 09:48 PM

Taipei, Feb. 21 (CNA) The percentage of people who believe that the United States will send troops to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion is increasing, according to a new opinion poll released Tuesday.

According to the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation (TPOF), 42.8 percent of those surveyed in February this year said that they believed Washington would intervene militarily if Beijing attacked Taiwan, a rise of 8.3 percentage points compared with the same poll in 2022.

Despite the rise, 46.5 percent said that they did not believe the United States will send troops to defend Taiwan, a year-over-year drop of 9.4 percentage points, while 5.3 percent said they were uncertain.

The TPOF released the poll ahead of the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine on Feb. 24 to gauge whether public opinion in Taiwan has changed due to the conflict.

The latest poll found that 64.9 percent of respondents thought Russia's invasion of Ukraine lacked legal justification, down 8.3 percentage points from last year, while 7.9 percent believed Moscow's actions could be justified under international law, also down 2.5 percentage points.

Meanwhile, 51.6 percent said they feared Taiwan would become the next Ukraine, while 43.6 percent were not worried.

Last year's poll saw 59.7 percent express worries and 37.5 percent express no worries.

When asked about their confidence in the military's ability to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack, 45.3 percent said they were confident Taiwan's armed forces were capable of defending Taiwan, while 47.2 percent had no confidence.

Broken down by party allegiance, 72 percent of ruling Democratic Progressive Party supporters said they were confident in the military's ability to defend Taiwan, while 73 percent of opposition Kuomintang supporters polled said they were not confident.

In a similar survey in 2016, only 29 percent of respondents expressed confidence, while 66.5 percent indicated a lack of confidence, according to TPOF Chairman You Ying-lung (游盈隆).

However, the figures rose to 48.9 percent and dropped to 44.8 percent, respectively, in a September 2020 poll, You noted.

In addition, the poll also asked the public's attitude toward incursions of Chinese balloons into Taiwan's airspace and whether the armed forces should shoot down the suspected military objects as the U.S. military did, with 66.3 percent saying they agree to do so, while 19.2 percent expressed disapproval.

The poll was conducted from Feb. 13-14 this year based on telephone interviews with adults aged 20 and over in Taiwan. It collected 1,072 valid samples and had a confidence level of 95 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.99 percentage points.

(By Lin Ching-yin and Evelyn Kao)

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