Taipei: Nearly 60 percent of respondents in Taiwan expressed their willingness to “resist” a Chinese invasion even without U.S. military support, according to results from the “American Portrait Project” survey released Thursday by Academia Sinica.

According to Focus Taiwan, the survey conducted from January 20-26 involved 1,206 Taiwanese adults who answered questions regarding U.S.-Taiwan-China relations, defense spending and deterrence, the credibility of the U.S. security commitment to Taiwan, and their willingness to fight in a crisis. The findings revealed that 58.7 percent of respondents affirmed they would resist a Chinese invasion without U.S. intervention, with 41.2 percent saying “definitely yes” and 17.5 percent “probably yes.” Conversely, 36.2 percent indicated they would not resist, comprising 21.7 percent “definitely not” and 14.5 percent “probably not,” while 5.1 percent chose not to answer.

The survey further disclosed that if the United States were to intervene, 56.5 percent of respondents would resist a Chinese invasion, with 34.4 percent expressing “definitely yes” and 22.1 percent “probably yes.” About 34.8 percent said they would not resist, including 21.7 percent “definitely not” and 13.1 percent “probably not,” while 8.7 percent refrained from responding.

This survey, which also gauged respondents’ political party preferences and support levels, was released during an online press conference organized by Academia Sinica in partnership with the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Pan Hsin-hsin, an associate research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Sociology, noted that the overall willingness to resist at all costs is mainly driven by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters, while supporters of the Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party lowered the overall proportion. Pan mentioned that DPP supporters’ willingness to defend Taiwan remains unchanged irrespective of U.S. intervention.

Additionally, just over half of the respondents (53.5 percent) supported raising Taiwan’s defense budget to 3 percent of GDP, while approximately 31.1 percent opposed it. The survey also showed strong backing for purchasing U.S. weapons, with 69.5 percent in favor.

Wu Wen-chin, a research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Political Science, highlighted that the latest data indicated only about 34 percent of respondents view the United States as a credible country, a decrease from 45 percent in 2021. Regarding China’s credibility, Wu stated that the proportion of Taiwanese respondents expressing trust increased from about 11 percent in 2025 to 17 percent.

He observed that Taiwanese respondents perceive the U.S. and China very differently in terms of credibility, with significantly more people considering the United States trustworthy compared to China.

The survey was conducted through telephone interviews, maintaining a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.82 percentage points.