Japan unprecedentedly loved by Taiwanese: Poll

According to the fiscal 2024 poll by the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, the de facto Japanese embassy in Taiwan, the proportion of respondents picking Japan as their favourite country jumped 16 percentage points from the previous survey in fiscal 2021.

Japan, which has been the most loved nation since the survey started in fiscal 2009, was followed by South Korea, with 4 %.

Favoured by 3 %, the United States sank from second to tie for third with China.

The survey also showed that respondents believing Taiwan should get along with Japan most accounted for a record 70 %, up a sharp 24 points from three years ago.

The second-placed United States lost 11 points to 13 % and third-ranked China 4 points to 11 %.

Meanwhile, the United States remained the most influential nation to Taiwan, picked by 48 %. But the rating dropped 10 points.

On the other hand, Japan was viewed as such by 30 %, up 17 points, replacing China, whose score fell 6 points to 19 %, as runner-up in this category.

The association conducted the latest survey between late December last year and early January, asking 1,500 people to respond, ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration as US president in late January.

The survey results probably reflected Taiwanese people's vigilance against the incoming president, who had demanded they pay defence costs to the United States amid growing threats posed by China, a person familiar with the matter said.

Also citing the finding that Japan was chosen as the foreign country to visit by 68 %, also a record high, compared with 11 % for second-placed Europe and 5 % for China, the third pick, an association official vowed to keep contributing to further developing Japan-Taiwan ties.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]

Photo by Reuters