Factors Influencing Identifying Only as Taiwanese: A Layered Empirical Approach (Survey II)

Abstract

This chapter carries out a layered empirical approach from survey results obtained in 2017 to describe how people in Taiwan increasingly view their identity as separate and different from that of the Chinese people living on the Mainland. It investigates individual characteristics and contextual conditions that influence identity in Taiwan in addition to the critical factors of democracy and the United States. The chapter also looks at how beliefs about cross-Strait relations influence an individual's ideational formation as exclusively Taiwanese. By doing so, the chapter unfolds a greater analytical clarity and insights into how and why a ‘Taiwanese only’ identity has evolved on the island. The chapter then jumps to describe the Taiwan National Security Survey Data and the variables developed to address these questions. It elaborates on Proportional Reduction of Error (PRE) to explore critical questions about factors influencing Taiwanese identity. The chapter shifts its focus on Taiwanese–Mainland relational issues, such as the 1992 Consensus, then determines how the model used to explain ideational issues operates with political issues such as the performance assessment of President Tsai Ing-wen.