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PEACE PACT POLEMIC:
Peace accord would not stop China attack: poll
By Lin Shu-hui / Staff Reporter
Sixty-seven percent of interviewees said they did not believe that China would
refrain from attacking Taiwan even if a cross-strait peace agreement was signed,
a poll released by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) showed yesterday.
The telephone poll was conducted by the party on Wednesday and Thursday, asking
whether the public would accept the signing of a cross-strait peace accord under
the pre-condition of the “one China” principle.
The poll results showed that only 26.1 percent of the people interviewed said
they were willing to accept such pre-conditions, while 62.9 percent said they
could not.
Among voters who consider themselves neutral, 21.1 percent said they would
accept the pre-condition while 55.9 said they would not, the poll showed.
Asked whether they believed a peace treaty would prevent China from attacking
Taiwan, 25.3 percent said they believed so, while 67.1 percent said they did not
believe that China would give up the option of using force against Taiwan.
The poll also showed that 82.7 percent of people surveyed said they agreed that
any change in the cross-strait “status quo” or the future of Taiwan must be
decided by Taiwanese via a referendum, while 13.2 percent disagreed.
Noting the poll results, DPP spokeperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said “a clear
majority of Taiwanese did not believe that the mere formality of signing a peace
accord would prevent China from using force against Taiwan.”
Saying that peace is what everyone wants, Liang added that if the actual content
of such a peace accord was spelled out clearly, there would be widespread
opposition because, as suggested in the poll, a majority does not accept the
idea of an accord signed under the “one China” principle.
Commenting on the poll, Chu Kang-chen (朱康震), spokesperson of President Ma Ying-jeou’s
(馬英九) re-election campaign office, said that the DPP’s poll question was
misleading and violated the professional principles according to which polls
should be conducted.
Chu said Ma did not say that he would be pushing for a cross-strait peace accord
under the “one China” principle.
Only under the principles of “national need, public support and oversight by the
Legislative Yuan” could a cross-strait peace accord be broached, Chu said.
Chu added that DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and the party itself had often
accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of controlling poll results and Tsai
had even alleged that controlling polls to sway elections was the KMT’s forte.
However, Chu said, the DPP is the one that frequently published polls that were
lacking in professionalism and of doubtful credibility.
The DPP should return to the table and begin practical policy discussions with
their opponents. It should also cease using highly dubious methods to mislead
public opinion, as such tactics would ultimately be exposed, Chu said.
A total of 1,243 people were polled with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.95
percent.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
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