(Washington) A majority of Americans would support military intervention by the United States to defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion by China, according to a poll by the Eurasia Group Foundation released Wednesday.
The survey, conducted among 1,000 American adults between August 28 and September 6, indicates that 18% of respondents would be “strongly” in favor of intervention to support Taiwan, while 42% would be “somewhat in favor.”
Autonomous Taiwan is under increased military and political pressure from China, which views the island as a province that it has yet to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
President Joe Biden has publicly said he would support deploying U.S. forces to defend Taiwan, but the official U.S. position relies on ambiguity. Washington thus only recognizes Beijing, but provides arms to Taiwan for its defense.
For Mark Hannah, a researcher at the Eurasia Group think tank, support for intervention in Taiwan could be linked in part to the negative image in the United States of China, which faces numerous criticisms linked to these commercial practices or still human rights.
“There could be a patriotic movement effect if (China) invaded a democratic island that is a long-time partner of the United States,” he says.
Among those surveyed, those identifying themselves as Republicans were more likely to “strongly” support intervention.
On the issue of Ukraine, support was the opposite, with Democratic respondents saying they were more enthusiastic about strong U.S. support for Kyiv while the issue was divisive within the Republican Party.
Beyond official party positions, 77% of respondents say they support diplomatic efforts towards Iran to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons.
And 67% said they support direct negotiations with adversaries of the United States, “even if they violate human rights, are dictators, or harbor terrorist organizations.”
The poll was taken before this weekend’s offensive against Israel by Palestinian Islamists Hamas, who benefit from the support of Iran.