Youth will not fight for Taiwan: poll
TELLING NUMBERS:While most young people believe Taiwan is independent, 60% said they should have the right to refuse conscription if a declaration of independence led to war
By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff reporter
A survey released yesterday showed that 45.8 percent of young people
born after 1984 agreed that Taiwan is an independent nation separate
from China, while almost 60 percent of the respondents said that people
have the right to refuse military conscription in the event of war
against China.
The 21st Century Foundation, a local think tank, released the survey to explore the “sense of efficacy” of the generation toward cross-strait peace, attempting to find what they think are the ways to achieve peace and whether it is possible to reconcile cross-strait peace with preservation national sovereignty.
“A conclusion we drew from the survey was that people in Taiwan know well that Taiwan’s pursuit of de jure independence will lead to Chinese use of force against Taiwan,” said Chang Yu-tzung (張佑宗), an associate professor of politics at the National Taiwan University and leader of the research team.
The survey reflected the “pragmatic attitudes” of young people in Taiwan toward cross-strait issues, he added.
“They do not want to sacrifice their lives for sovereignty,” Chang said of the findings.
Chang called the research a “pioneering study” because it combined qualitative and quantitative methods of conducting focus group interviews with senior high school and college students. A total of 719 copies of questionnaires were completed either online or through face-to-face interviews, and the respondents had connections to the research team rather than being randomly selected.
On a question regarding the identity of the nation, 45.8 percent of the respondents agreed that “Taiwan and China are two different states,” 19.9 percent favored the characterization advocated by the Democratic Progressive Party that “the Republic of China (ROC) is Taiwan,” 24.4 percent chose the option that “the ROC is on Taiwan” as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) insists, 7.9 percent said Taiwan and China both belong to the ROC, and 2 percent said that “Taiwan is part of China.”
The survey found that 57 percent of the respondents agreed that people have the right to refuse to be conscripted into the military if a war breaks out because of Taiwan’s declaration of independence, while 43 percent disagreed.
Asked whether they think people in Taiwan have to fight against China until the end, even if the government has stopped resisting when China forces Taiwan into unification, 48.3 percent of the respondents disagreed, and 51.7 percent agreed.
An analysis of these two questions showed that 31.6 percent of the respondents do not want to be mobilized for military duty and would rather surrender in case of military conflict between Taiwan and China, Chang said.
The survey showed that more than 80 percent of the respondents did not think that China would renounce the use of force against Taiwan even if a majority of people in Taiwan made it clear that they support Taiwanese independence or that they oppose unification with China.
On another question, 58.5 percent of the respondents said they thought China would not resort to military action against Taiwan if a majority of people in Taiwan said that they support unification, while 41.5 percent disagreed.
The survey found that 74.2 percent of the respondents agreed that Taiwan has to continue to procure weapons even though the move will cause tensions in cross-strait relations, and 25.8 percent disagreed.
The 21st Century Foundation, a local think tank, released the survey to explore the “sense of efficacy” of the generation toward cross-strait peace, attempting to find what they think are the ways to achieve peace and whether it is possible to reconcile cross-strait peace with preservation national sovereignty.
“A conclusion we drew from the survey was that people in Taiwan know well that Taiwan’s pursuit of de jure independence will lead to Chinese use of force against Taiwan,” said Chang Yu-tzung (張佑宗), an associate professor of politics at the National Taiwan University and leader of the research team.
The survey reflected the “pragmatic attitudes” of young people in Taiwan toward cross-strait issues, he added.
“They do not want to sacrifice their lives for sovereignty,” Chang said of the findings.
Chang called the research a “pioneering study” because it combined qualitative and quantitative methods of conducting focus group interviews with senior high school and college students. A total of 719 copies of questionnaires were completed either online or through face-to-face interviews, and the respondents had connections to the research team rather than being randomly selected.
On a question regarding the identity of the nation, 45.8 percent of the respondents agreed that “Taiwan and China are two different states,” 19.9 percent favored the characterization advocated by the Democratic Progressive Party that “the Republic of China (ROC) is Taiwan,” 24.4 percent chose the option that “the ROC is on Taiwan” as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) insists, 7.9 percent said Taiwan and China both belong to the ROC, and 2 percent said that “Taiwan is part of China.”
The survey found that 57 percent of the respondents agreed that people have the right to refuse to be conscripted into the military if a war breaks out because of Taiwan’s declaration of independence, while 43 percent disagreed.
Asked whether they think people in Taiwan have to fight against China until the end, even if the government has stopped resisting when China forces Taiwan into unification, 48.3 percent of the respondents disagreed, and 51.7 percent agreed.
An analysis of these two questions showed that 31.6 percent of the respondents do not want to be mobilized for military duty and would rather surrender in case of military conflict between Taiwan and China, Chang said.
The survey showed that more than 80 percent of the respondents did not think that China would renounce the use of force against Taiwan even if a majority of people in Taiwan made it clear that they support Taiwanese independence or that they oppose unification with China.
On another question, 58.5 percent of the respondents said they thought China would not resort to military action against Taiwan if a majority of people in Taiwan said that they support unification, while 41.5 percent disagreed.
The survey found that 74.2 percent of the respondents agreed that Taiwan has to continue to procure weapons even though the move will cause tensions in cross-strait relations, and 25.8 percent disagreed.
Asked whether they support the government increasing tax rates to drive military procurements to enhance the country’s defenses, 44.2 percent of the respondents agreed, while 55.8 percent disagreed.
The result showed that for young people, “life is more valuable than defending the country” and that they would rather have their money spent in pursuit of their personal values than on defense, Chang said.
新世代國家認同 民調：越來越偏向台灣意識
〔記者蘇永耀／台北報導〕二十一世紀基金會昨公布兩岸關係最新民調，在國家認同上，主張「台灣是台灣，中國是中國，彼此互不隸屬」的比率達四十六％，研究也發現新的政治世代，「越來越偏向台灣意識」。
46％主張兩岸互不隸屬
這次民調是由基金會委託台大政治系副教授張佑宗的研究團隊，在去年八到十二月間進行，問卷包括實體與網路兩種，受訪對象有高中生、大學生、碩士與在職生等三類。
調查發現，在國家認同分布，主張「台灣是台灣，中國是中國，彼此互不隸屬」佔四十六％，比率最高；其次為「中華民國在台灣」廿四％；「中華民國是台灣」廿％。傾向統一的「台灣和中國大陸同屬中華民國」僅僅八％；認為「台灣是中國的一部分」僅二％，比率最低。
研究團隊解讀說，國家認同的變遷，會受到政治世代、教育程度與家庭成長因素等影響。新的政治世代越來越偏向台灣意識，但台灣意識的基礎是建立在理性，而非過去感性的基礎，這從團體訪談及民調資料的分析都可看出。
以「台灣」指稱所處地域
在與青年學生座談時，也發現青年世代對「台灣」的認同感非常強，在談論自身所處的地域，必定是以「台灣」一詞來指稱。而「中華民國」一詞則鮮少出現在青年世代的語彙中，大都是研究者提及時才會使用。
研究團隊認為，年輕一代的認同高度，正朝「台灣」具有主體性的方向傾斜，且以往歷史殘留與學校正式社會化的影響正在減弱。這種認同台灣主體性的傾向並不完全建立在民族主義的情感上，更主要是綜合了對於生活地域認知，以及主體管轄權現實的理性考量結果。
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