Pew Research Center’s 2023 Spring Global Attitudes Survey was released. Among the 24 middle- and high-income countries participating in the survey, nearly half of the adult respondents had a favorable view of Taiwan. About a quarter of the people surveyed held a neutral opinion, and the countries with the best impression of Taiwan were Japan, South Korea, and Australia.
TAIPEI, TAIWAN (Merxwire) –Want to know what impression Taiwan has in the eyes of foreigners? According to the results of the 2023 Spring Global Attitudes Survey by the Pew Research Center, among the 24 middle- and high-income countries participating in the survey, nearly half of the adult respondents have a favorable opinion of Taiwan, and 28% of the respondents have a negative perception of Taiwan. About a quarter of the interviewees hold a neutral view and have no particular opinion.
Among the countries with a positive impression of Taiwan, the top three countries with the highest favorable impressions are Japan, South Korea, and Australia. Over 70% of their positive attitudes toward Taiwan are 82%, 75%, and 70%. Nearly a quarter of Japanese respondents had a “very favorable attitude” toward Taiwan. The countries ranked fourth and fifth are Israel and the United States. About 65% and 66% of the people have a positive attitude toward Taiwan. There are 5 countries with equal proportions of positive and negative views of Taiwan, namely Hungary, Spain, Greece, Brazil, and Argentina.
Middle- and high-income countries participating in the survey include Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, and India in Asia. United States and Canada in North America. Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina in South America. Sweden, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Hungary in Europe. South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria in Africa and Israel in the Middle East.
The survey shows that many interviewees link their views on Taiwan with their impressions of China, for example, they say they like Taiwan but dislike China, or think that China interferes too much in Taiwan affairs. Among them, 9 high-income countries expressed a positive perception of Taiwan, but a negative impression of China, which shows the intuitive perception of the international community.
Therefore, Japan, which has the highest positive perception of Taiwan, expresses that it does not have a positive perception of China. South Korea and Australia, which have a highly favorable opinion of Taiwan, have a negative view of China. Other countries with a positive impression of Taiwan, including the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Germany, the United States, and Canada, all hold a negative view of China.
None of the people in the 24 countries strongly prefer China to Taiwan, and only about 10% of the people express this opinion. Compared with other countries, Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya in South Africa have a relatively high proportion of negative views on Taiwan and positive views on China. About 22% and 18% have a better impression of China.
Two countries with less relative views of Taiwan and China are Mexico in South America and India in South Asia. About 36% of the people in Mexico hold a positive view of China and Taiwan, while 35% of the people in India hold a negative view of China and Taiwan.
The survey found that the number of Americans who are worried about Taiwan Strait relations has increased significantly, an increase of 4 percentage points compared to the survey in the fall of 2022, and a substantial increase of 19 percentage points compared to the data in the winter of 2021. According to the statistics released this time, nearly half of Americans believe that the situation in the Taiwan Strait is a serious issue that needs to be viewed and dealt with carefully.
Even though there are still many uncertainties in the future, Taiwan’s visibility and good impression in the world are indeed better than in previous years. There will be better opportunities for Taiwan and stable growth for the expansion of international trade, tourism, and the development of exchanges between countries.