TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A large survey conducted in Japan in late September found that 71% of respondents view Taiwan as an independent country, with almost the same number favoring Japan and Taiwan establishing formal diplomatic relations.
The survey was conducted by the Indo-Pacific Strategic Think-tank (IPST) in cooperation with the Sankei Shimbun news company on Sept. 21, reported RFI. It surveyed over 3,000 Japanese over the age of 18 in eight major cities about their views on Taiwan through 14 questions.
The IPST was recently established by prominent journalist Yaita Akio (矢板明夫), who intends for the think tank to publish a monthly “Taiwan Situation report.” The survey represents the first major publication of note for the think tank.
On the issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty, only 8% of respondents answered that they believe Taiwan is a part of China. Another 20% of respondents said they were uncertain about Taiwan’s status as a nation.
One question asked by the survey was regarding the possibility of military conflict in the Taiwan Strait, to which 50% of respondents said that war is unlikely to occur. Another 23% said they thought conflict could occur, while 26% expressed a neutral view.
When asked about Japan’s possible support for Taiwan in a military conflict, 46% of respondents advocated supporting Taiwan as “permitted by the law.” Another 41% supported imposing economic sanctions on China in the event of a conflict, and 12% said that Japan should not intervene at all.
As for the prospect of the United States coming to aid Taiwan in the event of military conflict, 52% said that the US is likely to provide only material support, but will not get directly involved. In contrast, 39% expressed confidence the US would send troops to defend Taiwan, while the remaining 8% said the US would not help Taiwan at all.
One survey question asked, “Which country do you feel Japan is Japan closest to in Asia?” A majority of 55% of respondents replied with Taiwan, a much higher percentage than the second highest response of South Korea at almost 15%.
In contrast, only 3.6% of respondents said China was closest to Japan, ranking below Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore. A separate question on the survey asked “What do you most like about Taiwan?” to which most respondents (33%) said that Taiwan gives them a sense of “closeness to Japan.”
