Twenty-one per cent of Taiwanese support immediate independence for Taiwan, more than double the number in 2000 when the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came to power, a public opinion poll showed on Saturday. The increase in support for immediate independence from 8 per cent in 2000 to 21 per cent shows the intensification of the separatist consciousness in Taiwan, the United Daily News (UDN), which conducted the survey, said. The survey also showed support for maintaining Taiwan's status quo remains unchanged at 36 per cent. The telephone poll of 942 adults showed that while more Taiwanese back immediate independence, fewer people back gradual independence - 10 per cent compared with 16 per cent in 2000. Fewer people also back immediate or gradual reunification with China - 6 per cent compared with 9 per cent in 2000 for immediate reunification, and 11 per cent compared with 18 per cent in 2000 for gradual reunification. The Taiwan public's attitude on independence and reunification varies depending on the level of tension between Taipei and Beijing. Taiwan has been the seat of the Chinese Nationalist Government in exile since 1949, when the Chinese civil war split China and Taiwan. China, which sees Taiwan as its breakaway province, has been urging Taiwan to accept reunification and become an autonomous region of China. Former Taiwan president Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching- kuo rejected Beijing's call, claiming Taipei is the legitimate government for all of China and it would not accept reunification until Beijing abandoned communism. But after Chen Shui-bian - president of the pro-independence DPP - became president in 2000, he began distancing Taiwan from China by announcing Taiwan and China are two countries and Taiwan will write its own constitution before 2008. China has warned that Chen is leading Taiwan towards dangerous territory, and has threatened to attack Taiwan if Taipei declares independence.
