Taiwan Photo: Unsplash

Polls on the island of Taiwan showed that the Communist Party of China (CPC), which has just celebrated its centennial, is receiving growing support from the public in the island, a slight reversal against the high tide of "anti-mainland" atmosphere in recent years.  

Experts said on Friday that as more and more Taiwan residents see the CPC's governance capability, in the contrary to the island's vicious political rivalries and COVID-19 crisis, the mainland's track record in improving living standards is expected to become "the best opposition party" in contrast to the secessionists Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).  

Released by Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation (TPOF) on Thursday, the poll shows that among adult Taiwan residents, favorable views of the CPC have increased by 4 percent and negative views decreased by 16 percent comparing to October 2020. Another poll conducted by "my-formosa.com" reflects the same trend, while both the Kuomintang (KMT) and DPP saw a drop in public support. It's worth noting that these two pollsters are pro-secessionists agencies.

According to the TPOF's poll, Taiwan people's favorable view of the CPC dropped to a six-year low in mid-2020, after DPP leader Tsai Ing-wen won re-election, with the small rebound the highest in nearly a year and a half.

Despite there are still over 40 percent Taiwan respondents expressed negative impression to the CPC in TPOF's poll, over 49 percent Taiwan residents expressed discontent to the DPP authority in another poll. 

With hundreds of thousands Taiwan residents, including celebrities and politicians, came to mainland to receive their COVID-19 vaccine inoculation as DPP snubbed mainland vaccines, some Taiwan entertainers have expressed their best wishes to CPC's 100th founding anniversary on Thursday on Sina Weibo. 

"100th anniversary, in the prime of life," Ouyang Nana, a musician and actress from Taiwan, congratulated CPC's centennial in a Weibo post on Thursday.

From the KMT to the DPP, the political environment on the island has long been dominated by anti-CPC forces, resulting in a one-sided and wrong view of the mainland, Wang Jianmin, a senior cross-Straits expert at Minnan Normal University, East China's Fujian Province, told the Global Times on Friday.

The mainland has successfully brought the epidemic under control and provided hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine to the world, Wang said, "Quite a few rational Taiwan people have seen these in mind, especially CPC's value of 'people first.'"

"There will be more and more opportunities for cross-Straits comparison, which will inevitably lead to more Taiwan people gradually seeing the whole picture when it comes to the mainland and the CPC, Wang said, "as time goes on, more and more Taiwan people will recognize the fact that the CPC's governance capacity is much better than any Taiwan political power, the political lies will be exposed."

In fact, some young people from Taiwan have increased their understanding of CPC after studying and living in mainland.  

Wang Yu-Ching, a Taiwan PhD candidate of School of International Relations, Peking University, told the Global Times on Friday that Taiwan is not yet a society where people can talk freely about reunification because of the pressure from the secessionists, and many people will choose to remain silent.

"If there were no political pressure, Taiwan's public opinion of the CPC would be more positive in the poll," Wang said, noting that many people in Taiwan are realistic - They read mainland news and make comparisons with the island in some occasions.

Many of my friends and family members in Taiwan said they are hoping hands from the mainland when facing difficulties that cannot be solved by the island's politicians, said Wang, "So the mainland's livelihood policy is the best opposition party in the island."

The glorious history of the CPC was summed up in a gigantic and splendid art performance that was staged on Monday evening at the National Stadium in Beijing to celebrate the Party centennial. 

"Many of my friends in Taiwan have also watched the event. They are willing to review and understand the common history of the two sides of the Taiwan Stratis," Wang said, "Such high-level performance is not available on the island, and Taiwan people really don't have options other than political talk shows and old movies."