Foreigners and Taiwan Independence Study

Politics Taiwan Politics
1

Hi – I’ve been conducting a study for school that, analyzes “The Political Inclinations of Foreigners in Taiwan”, and if you’re a foreigner currently in Taiwan, I hope you’d be willing to participate. Please e-mail me at tofucastle@hotmail.com and I’ll send you the survey as a Word document. Or you may use the copy of the survey I’ve attached below, and e-mail that to the address provided. Your participation would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve surveyed about 150 foreigners in Taiwan so far (mostly students and teachers so far). Of those, the 101 surveys I’ve tabulated, I’ve found that:

 A) 2.1% of the foreigners support immediate unification
 B) 14.9% support immediate independence
 C) 24.5% support maintain the status quo move toward unification in the future
 D) 30.1% support maintain the status quo, move towards independence in the future 
 E) 22.3% support maintain the status quo, decide either unification or independence in the future
 F) 5.3% support maintain the status quo forever.

Taken together, this means that 26.6% of those surveyed support unification now or later and 45% support independence now or in the future and 28.4% support status quo forever or to decide either unification or independence in the future. I understand that one’s outlook on the cross-Strait relationship may depend on the conditions attached to the sovereignty issues as well as other pervading geopolitical circumstances, but my study is less focused on independence/unification issue itself. Rather, I’m trying to assess what intrinsic and extrinsic factors affect foreigner’s outlook on the situation.

Two of the most curious traits that the preliminary findings reveal is that the longer foreigners have lived in Taiwan, the more pro-independence they tend to be. Namely, 63% of those living here for 2 years or more favored independence now or in the future, whereas 44% for those who have lived here between 1 or 2 years and 25% for those who have lived here one year or less tend to be pro-independence.

Moreover, people from “developed countries”, as defined by the IMF, tend to be more pro-independence than those from “developing countries”. (48% pro-independence and 32% respectively)

But anyways, if you’re interested in participating in the survey please e-mail me at tofucastle@hotmail.com

Questionnaire
Hello! The responses obtained from this survey are intended for research purposes only and will be used in a master’s thesis entitled “The Political Inclination of Foreigners in Taiwan Regarding the Cross-Strait Situation.” It is authored by Lee Liu, a graduate student at National Chengchi University, in Taipei. Since all answers will be coded anonymously, please make sure to complete all questions and to be as frank as possible in your responses. The questionnaire should only take a few minutes to complete, so relax! Lee salutes you for your interest in participating in this study.

  1. Where are you from? ______________________

  2. What is your age? _______

  3. What is your gender?

  4. Male

  5. Female

  6. What is your highest level of education?

  7. Middle school or lower

  8. High school

  9. Undergraduate degree

  10. Master degree or higher

  11. How long have you lived in Taiwan? _______

6A. Are you married?

  1. No
  2. Yes

6b. What is his/her nationality? _______

  1. What is your current occupation in Taiwan? (please be as specific as possible)

  1. What is your income? _______________ per month

  2. From whom do you receive financial support (please mark all that apply)?

  3. From employers of the private sector

  4. From friends or family members

  5. From the Taiwanese government

  6. From the government of your homeland

  7. Other ____________

  8. No financial support received

  9. How many countries have you traveled? ______

  10. How many countries have you stayed in for one month or more? ______

  11. How many times have you visited mainland China (excluding Hong Kong and Macao)? ______

  12. Of all the times you’ve visited mainland China (excluding Hong Kong and Macao), what is the total time you’ve stayed there?
    ________ months

  13. Do you have business or family connections in mainland China (excluding Hong Kong and Macao)?

    1. No family connections and no business connections
    2. Some family connections but no business connections
    3. Some family connections and some business connections
    4. No family connections but some business connections

  14. How much longer do you plan to stay in Taiwan? ______ months

  15. What country do you want to move next? ________________

  16. What languages do you speak?

  1. __________ (Best)
  2. __________ (Second Best)
  3. __________ (Third Best)
  4. __________ (Fourth Best)

  1. My good friends in Taiwan are

  2. almost all Taiwanese

  3. mostly Taiwanese

  4. almost balanced number of Taiwanese and foreigners

  5. mostly foreigners

  6. almost all foreigners

  7. In Taiwan, of my good friends who are foreigners,

  8. most are from my homeland

  9. some are from my homeland

  10. few are from my homeland

  11. most are not from my homeland

  12. How good is your Chinese?
    20.1 Reading 20.2 Speaking 20.3 Writing

  13. None 1. None 1. None

  14. Poor 2. Poor 2. Poor

  15. Fair 3. Fair 3. Fair

  16. Good 4. Good 4. Good

  17. Excellent 5. Excellent 5. Excellent

  18. How many hours a week do you receive instruction for Chinese? ________

  19. How many times per week do you keep in contact with friends or family members who aren’t in Taiwan?

  20. By regular mail ______ times per week

  21. By phone ______ times per week

  22. By Internet ______ times per week

  23. How often do you get your news from the following media?
    The China Post ______ times per month
    The Taipei Times _______ times per month
    The Taiwan News _______ times per month
    A news website from where I’m from ______ times per month
    A news website from somewhere else other than from where I’m from ______ times per month.
    Another source _______________________ times per month. What source? ________________________

  24. What religion do you consider yourself? _________________________

  25. Considering the relationship between Taiwan and mainland China, which of the following six positions do you agree with 1) immediate unification, 2) immediate independence, 3) maintain the status quo, move toward unification in the future, 4) maintain the status quo, move toward independence in the future, 5) maintain the status quo, decide either unification or independence in the future, 6) maintain the status quo forever?

  26. immediate unification

  27. immediate independence

  28. maintain the status quo, move toward unification in the future,

  29. maintain the status quo, move toward independence in the future,

  30.      maintain the status quo, decide either unification or independence in the future, 

  31.      maintain the status quo forever.
2

why not ask them to explain their reasoning and see what patterns you can extract from that as well. I think in-depth interviews, while more time-consuming, are much more valuable (if you can get it done by deadline).

3

Hey V,
Thanks for the advice. I’m still trying to formalize a set a questions to ask for the interview part of my study. I’m thinking to interview about 10 people. But I’m having trouble thinking of people to represent, in a way, quintessential cases. But right now, I’m thinking of someone who’s sorta “fresh off the boat”, and someone who’s been her awhile; someone teaching English; a student; a laborer; someone who’s traveled many countries; someone who hasn’t traveled many countries; someone who’s been to China many times; and someone with dual citizenship. Does anyone have any good ideas?

Also, thanks to the people who have already sent in surveys. I hope to get more. Please do so if you haven’t already. It would be a tremendous help.

– tofucastle

4

Strange finding. Completely the opposite to my experience. I’ve found the generally its the FOBs who are more pro-independence than the long-termers, and its generally based pretty much on ignorance of the situation. They tend to become LESS pro-independence as they learn more about Taiwan’s history and politics.
When did you do this study? Even as little as ten years ago, there would still have been a lot of longtermers who were pro-independence, but the glory days of the DPP and the bright prospects have long since worn off.

5

No point in goin’ all round the houses again for no good reason, Sandman. It’s bloody cack-handed. Taiwan is independent. Crikey, anyone knows that what knows anythin’ about Taiwan.

6

Erm, when I get a vote, I might start to have an opinion.

7

sfe

8

Strange finding. Completely the opposite to my experience. I’ve found the generally its the FOBs who are more pro-independence than the long-termers, and its generally based pretty much on ignorance of the situation. They tend to become LESS pro-independence as they learn more about Taiwan’s history and politics.
When did you do this study? Even as little as ten years ago, there would still have been a lot of longtermers who were pro-independence, but the glory days of the DPP and the bright prospects have long since worn off.[/quote]

from reading the posts on forumosa, the political stance of the foreigner also seems to be often related to the political stance of their wives/gfs/bfs/husbands.[/quote]
How so? OK, so you might have surmised from my posts that I’m not pro-independence. Fair enough. How do you know what my wife’s leanings are? Or Tigerman’s, for example? Or anyone elses who’s expressed an opinion? How do you manage to extrapolate the political leanings of someone who has never even posted here and whom you’ve never met or heard of before from posts by a completely different person? That’s pretty damn clever, if you ask me.

9

Strange finding. Completely the opposite to my experience. I’ve found the generally its the FOBs who are more pro-independence than the long-termers, and its generally based pretty much on ignorance of the situation. They tend to become LESS pro-independence as they learn more about Taiwan’s history and politics.
When did you do this study? Even as little as ten years ago, there would still have been a lot of longtermers who were pro-independence, but the glory days of the DPP and the bright prospects have long since worn off.[/quote]

My experience is the same as Sandman’s, which isn’t surprising as we’ve been here about the same amount of time.

10

Strange finding. Completely the opposite to my experience. I’ve found the generally its the FOBs who are more pro-independence than the long-termers, and its generally based pretty much on ignorance of the situation. They tend to become LESS pro-independence as they learn more about Taiwan’s history and politics.
When did you do this study? Even as little as ten years ago, there would still have been a lot of longtermers who were pro-independence, but the glory days of the DPP and the bright prospects have long since worn off.[/quote]

My experience is the same as Sandman’s, which isn’t surprising as we’ve been here about the same amount of time.[/quote]
Yeah but it starts to become somewhat interesting when one considers how much smarter I am than you.

11

The vast majority of the long-timers I know here do, in fact, confirm the study’s findings. Maybe I haven’t been here as long as paogao and sandman. I am a relative newcomer (only 10 years), but I have had occasion to discuss this with a lot of expats, including the aforementioned gentlemen, and most (I’d say 70% or more) favor independence. Many, myself included, came to support independence (or should I say formalizing the independence that already exists) after moving to Taiwan and studying its history. For me it also came in spite of staunch, almost militant, KMT inlaws.
Based on Taiwan’s experience over the last 400 years, I think it would be a tragedy to surrender its future generations to the PRC.

I am not sure whether that makes me smarter than the previous posters or just morally superior.

(Disclaimer: The last sentence in this post is intended to be good-natured humour. No serious inference is intended with reference to the intelligence or moral character of any Forumosa user, living or dead. The author has prior knowledge of and contact with all parties concerned and is confident in their ability to take a joke.

Proof of age is on file for all models.

Offer not valid in New York, North Carolina, or Alaska.

Use only as directed.

Side effects may include drowsiness, loss of appetite, blurred vision, and hair loss.)

12

dasf

13

That doesn’t even make any sense. The status quo IS independence.

14

[quote=“sandman”]Strange finding. Completely the opposite to my experience. I’ve found the generally its the FOBs who are more pro-independence than the long-termers, and its generally based pretty much on ignorance of the situation. They tend to become LESS pro-independence as they learn more about Taiwan’s history and politics.
When did you do this study? Even as little as ten years ago, there would still have been a lot of longtermers who were pro-independence, but the glory days of the DPP and the bright prospects have long since worn off.[/quote]
I don’t think it’s fair to say that not liking what the DPP is all about means that inependence should not be an option. I think part of the problem lies in associating absolute independence with the DPP and absolute unification with the KMT. I would say that most foreigners are in favor of ensuring that the final decision about independence/unification is made by the people of Taiwan. It seems to me that an independent Taiwan could always choose to give up independence to become a part of China, whereas a province of China could virtually never become independent. I think the question is - can the DPP accept any alternative other than absolute independence? Or maybe better yet - can the KMT actually agree that this is something for the people of Taiwan to decide, and that independence is one option? I’d like to hear more opions about this.

15

Strange finding. Completely the opposite to my experience. I’ve found the generally its the FOBs who are more pro-independence than the long-termers, and its generally based pretty much on ignorance of the situation. They tend to become LESS pro-independence as they learn more about Taiwan’s history and politics.
When did you do this study? Even as little as ten years ago, there would still have been a lot of longtermers who were pro-independence, but the glory days of the DPP and the bright prospects have long since worn off.[/quote]

My experience is the same as Sandman’s, which isn’t surprising as we’ve been here about the same amount of time.[/quote]

Yeah but it starts to become somewhat interesting when one considers how much smarter I am than you.[/quote]

About a decade smarter, I’d guess. :wink: Unless you go by mileage, in which case I can’t even begin to guess, such is my ignorance.

16

Probably it all depends on the people you hang out with. I know many long-term expats, and I’d say the vast majority are pro-independence. That cuts across US political spectrum, ages, etc.

Completely the opposite of my experience. Almost all the knowledgeable people I know support some kind of independence for the island.

Why should DPP fuck-ups and cynicism make one less pro-independence, sandy? Don’t confuse disillusionment with party politics with basic political alignment. Potential for a democratic and independent Taiwan may wax and wane, but that doesn’t mean that one should change sides on the issue or go all Rick Blaine about it. :slight_smile:

Michael

17

You’re right, of course. I was only joking, see? I’m not nearly as smart as I thought and that’s exactly what I was doing – getting my anti-DPP slimys confused with pro vs. anti-independence.
I’m still not pro-independence though – they can do whatever the fuck they like. I couldn’t give a shit one way or the other. But they should be able to make the decision without outside interference.

18

That doesn’t even make any sense. The status quo IS independence.[/quote]

Right, and 99% of the human beings on this island “support” it. Even the ones who favor “eventual unification” support it, since even they do not want to become part of the PRC. Which renders the whole question moot, actually.

“Independence” in the staightforward, concrete meaning of the word – a government, an army, a passport, etc. – is what Taiwan has now and will go on having even if a KMT candidate wins the next presidential election, because 99% of the people want to go on being independent.

“Independence” in diplomat-speak is merely a noise intended for Chinese consumption. Washington warns Chen not to declare independence. And meanwhile Taiwan goes on being independent.

It is amazing to me that there can be so much confusion about this.

19

[quote=“DogVomit”]“Independence” in diplomat-speak is merely a noise intended for Chinese consumption. Washington warns Chen not to declare independence. And meanwhile Taiwan goes on being independent.

It is amazing to me that there can be so much confusion about this.[/quote]

Its not that simple, and its not that amazing, actually.

20

[quote=“Tigerman”][quote=“DogVomit”]“Independence” in diplomat-speak is merely a noise intended for Chinese consumption. Washington warns Chen not to declare independence. And meanwhile Taiwan goes on being independent.

It is amazing to me that there can be so much confusion about this.[/quote]

Its not that simple, and its not that amazing, actually.[/quote]

Actually, Tigerman, it is that simple. Look at today’s newspaper. Bush told Taiwan’s APEC envoy that he wants Chen to live up to his '04 inaugural promise not to take up the question of “independence.” Meanwhile Bush is trying to sell Taiwan weapons – so that Taiwan can preserve its independence. Now, gather around children and let Uncle DogVomit clue you in to something: the language of international relations – the pacts and protocols and memoranda of understanding and all that crap – is a veneer and should not be mimicked by people who actually want their words to refer to reality. Unless you happen to be Stephen Young or one of the other diplomats on the island, saying that you don’t support Taiwanese independence is like saying… Well, you get the idea. It’s a nonsensical statement.

I for one find it reassuring that 99% of the human beings on the island support independence. It’s that underlying consensus that makes Taiwan impervious to its own politicians and parties. When Ma says that, if elected, he will reach an immediate peace agreement with the PRC, he is basically saying, “I will preserve our independence through peaceful means.” When blue voters oppose the arms package, it’s because they think Bush is trying to rip them off by selling the island weapons it doesn’t need, not because they don’t support independence. Everyone, even the most irritating spoiled descendent of the KMT who robbed the island and killed tens of thousands of its people, wants to go on being independent. This is something to be happy about. The PRC can’t do jack about that.