A new survey has found that a strong majority of people in Taiwan approve of President Tsai Ing-wen’s first overseas trip since taking office in late May.
The Taiwan Thinktank poll found that 61% of those surveyed approve of Tsai’s nine-day trip to the allied nations of Panama and Paraguay. About 11.7 percent said they did not approve, while 27.3 percent did not give a clear answer. Those results were released on Sunday, one day after Tsai returned to Taiwan.
Meanwhile, more than 72 percent of respondents expressed support for Tsai's decision to write her title as "President of Taiwan (ROC)" in a guest book during a trip to the newly expanded Panama Canal. About 19 percent expressed their opposition to it.
The ROC refers to “Republic of China”, which is the official name of Taiwan’s government.
Tsai's inclusion of Taiwan in her title garnered particularly high approval ratings of more than 80 percent among respondents with a university degree in the 20-29 and 30-39 age brackets.
However, when asked whether Tsai should call herself "President of Taiwan" or "President of the ROC" in future overseas visits, 39.8 percent of respondents said "President of Taiwan," while 44.7 percent chose "President of the ROC."
The survey was conducted via telephone between June 30 and July 1, among adults in 20 counties and cities around Taiwan. There were 1,246 valid samples, with a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.