For the first time, majority of Americans support Taiwan Independence

According to a public opinion survey by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs published on 26th August 2021, the data shows that for the first time, a majority of Americans supports a range of US policies in support of Taiwan.

60% of the Americans viewed Taiwan as a country that is a necessary partner which USA must strategically cooperate with, or it is an ally that shares US interests and values.

29% of the Americans views China as an adversary which USA is in conflict with and 32% view China as a rival that USA needs to compete with. This means 61% of the Americans now views China negatively.

The public sentiment towards China and Taiwan had also become more definitive.

Feelings towards Taiwan had reached new height of 57 out of 100 in term of favourability, while opinions towards China had fallen to 32 to 33 out of 100 with the COVID-19 pandemic.

7 out of 10 Americans is now in favor of recognizing Taiwan as an independent country, with 65% supports Taiwan's inclusion in international organisations like United Nations or the World Health Organisation.

This is in contrast to Biden administration insistence that while USA supports a strong unofficial relationship with Taiwan, USA will not support Taiwan independence.

57% expressed favourability in signing a Free Trade Agreement with Taiwan while 53% wants USA to sign a formal alliance with Taiwan.

However, in contradiction to the favourability to signing a formal alliance with Taiwan, only 46% feels that USA should commit to defending Taiwan from a Chinese invasion. Although 40% did express that that do not know enough to decide on this issue.

52% however favor defending Taiwan in the event that China invades, if the circumstances justify use of US troops. But this also signify that only 1 in 2 Americans would favor entering into another war faraway from home after the recent collapse in Afghanistan. Inclination to sell arms to Taiwan also remain around the same divisive level across all the surveyed Americans.

There is no significant difference in term of opinion on either side of the aisle or with the independent voters. Which means that the US political divide does not have an distinct impact on public's opinion on the China-Taiwan issue and that the support for Taiwan or disapproval of China is bi-partisan.

This comes at a time when US-China relationship had reached new low as China's hope of a new President replacing Trump would herald an easier relationship between the two superpower, however, Biden's administration had continued the US strategic rivalry against China that Trump had started.