Tuesday, March 23

The Economist reported
the government-affiliated Social Survey Institute of China published the results of an opinion poll on Taiwan's referendum conducted in cities around China. Curiously, more than 20% of the 2,150 respondents said they weren't interested. Li Dongmin, the institute's director, says that 5.6% even expressed tolerance of the idea of Taiwan's independence. This is a remarkable finding in a country where the government allows no questioning of its territorial claims, and a person's views on the Taiwan issue are regarded as a key test of patriotism...

Nationalist sentiment in China is shaped to a considerable degree by government attitudes. Few, for example, show any interest in taking Mongolia, which China regards as independent but which Taiwan officially regards as part of Chinese territory.
and this week, they report a government sponsored opinion poll
showed that 43% of mainland Chinese think Taiwan should be reclaimed by force, while about 55% said it should be brought back to the fold peacefully. However, more than 20% of respondents said they were not interested in the matter.
Still, 43% is not inconsiderable.

On a related note, they've got a fairly negative survey on doing business in China.

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