Aug 07, 2006

Taiwan Considered a Good US Friend, Survey Shows


Taiwan is considered by some Americans as the 13th-closest ally of the US among a list of 25 countries, ranking far ahead of China, which takes 23rd place, according to the results of a survey
Despite the lack of official diplomatic ties, Taiwan is considered by some Americans as the 13th-closest ally of the US among a list of 25 countries, ranking far ahead of China, which takes 23rd place, according to the results of a survey released by Harris Interactive Inc.
The survey was conducted from July 5 to July 11 among 1,020 adults, but only approximately 500 people were asked about each country.

The survey showed that 25 percent of respondents thought Taiwan was a close ally of the US, 36 percent considered Taiwan friendly but not a close ally, 21 percent thought Taiwan was not friendly but not an enemy either, and 6 percent answered Taiwan was unfriendly and an enemy. Another 12 percent of those surveyed said they did not know or declined to answer the question.

Only 9 percent of the respondents described China as a close ally, 37 percent said China was friendly but not a close ally, 33 percent thought China was not friendly but not an enemy either, and 17 percent marked China as unfriendly and an enemy. Another 4 percent did not know or declined to answer the question.
The UK was, for the third consecutive year, considered by Americans as the closest ally of the US, with 74 percent saying the UK was a close ally.

The other countries on the top four list were Canada, Australia and Japan, which were considered by 64 percent, 61 percent and 50 percent of the respondents, respectively, as a close ally of the US.
Harris Interactive has conducted the survey since 1982. Other countries included in this year's list were Israel, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, Greece, France, India, Brazil, South Africa, Chile, Russia, Argentina, Colombia and Pakistan.