Taiwanese willingness to study, work in mainland hits eight-year high: survey

TAIPEI -- The willingness of Taiwanese to work and let their children study in the Chinese mainland has reached the highest level since 2010 amid their growing favorable perceptions of people from the mainland, a survey showed Monday.

About 40 percent of the 1,017 Taiwanese respondents said they are willing to work in the Chinese mainland, up 9 percentage points year on year while the share of parents who would agree to let their children study there grew from 32 percent last year to 38 percent this year, both setting an eight-year high, according to the annual survey on cross-Strait relations released by Taiwanese newspaper United Daily News.

The growing willingness to work and study in the Chinese mainland is mainly a result of Taiwanese having increasingly favorable impressions of their mainland counterparts, which grew 5 percentage points to 49 percent this year, the highest in eight years.

Accordingly, people-to-people exchanges are regarded as the best-performing field between the two sides compared with military, political, diplomatic and economic interactions, the survey showed.

The Chinese mainland will continue to enable Taiwanese on the mainland to enjoy equal treatment in terms of study, business and earnings as mainland compatriots, in accordance with the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China convened last month, said spokesperson with the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office last week.

The survey found that 56 percent of the respondents are dissatisfied with the performance of island's current leader in handling cross-Strait relations, up from 48 percent last year, and 47 percent questioned about the local government's cross-Strait policies.

The island's current leader has failed to maintain the status quo of cross-Strait relations due to a series of alienation policies, and should wake up to the calls of Taiwanese as they are more willing to interact with mainland counterparts, the newspaper said in its editorial.