Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council on Thursday defended a poll in which 70.5% of respondents called Chinese coast guard patrols off Taiwan's east coast "malicious," after China's Taiwan Affairs Office accused the survey of stoking cross-strait confrontation. At a regular afternoon press briefing hosted by deputy minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh, the council said the finding was public opinion gauged through objective, scientific tools, Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) reported.
What did the poll find? The council released the survey last week, and 70.5% of respondents in it said the Chinese Communist Party's dispatch of coast guard vessels to patrol waters off Taiwan's east coast was "malicious." The poll, which CNA reported was published on Aug. 20, was commissioned from National Chengchi University's Election Study Center. The coast guard question was newly added in this round.
What did the Taiwan Affairs Office say? Zhang Han, a spokesperson for the office, said at its regular press conference on Wednesday that Chinese coast guard vessels were "exercising jurisdiction in accordance with the law" in the waters concerned, calling it a legitimate and just act, CNA reported. She also said that putting out such a poll was stirring up anti-China sentiment and provoking cross-strait confrontation.
How did the council respond? At the briefing, Liang said the council brings major recent cross-strait events into its poll interviews in order to understand what people think, but never deliberately designs or fabricates poll data. The council's polls have long been conducted by the Chengchi University center, which carries a certain authority, he said. The authority of polling done through objective, scientific tools should not be doubted, Liang said: "Please, everyone, do not question it."
What did Liang ask the office? If the office considers sending coast guard vessels to patrol waters east of Taiwan a just act, Liang asked, why do the overwhelming majority of Taiwanese regard it as malicious? Clearly, in the minds of Taiwan's people, it is no just act, Liang said. "There is no need for any of us to argue over this part," he said.
