This view contrasts with US President Donald Trump’s isolationist bent and pivot towards homeland security, something analysts say could “complicate” decision making in the event of a crisis in the Taiwan Strait.
According to an annual survey published on Thursday by the Ronald Reagan Institute, a US non-profit organisation created by the former US president, 64 per cent of Americans, a “record high” in the eight years of polling, said the US should be “more engaged and take the lead in international affairs”, in contrast to 33 per cent who preferred less engagement.
Nearly nine out of 10 Americans questioned – 87 per cent – also said it was important that the US had the most powerful military in the world. Meanwhile, 71 per cent agreed that the world was more likely to achieve peace when the US was the strongest power, while 44 per cent wanted a military capable of “defeating China and Russia simultaneously”.
China topped the list of countries Americans saw as the greatest threat to the US, accounting for 48 per cent of the replies, followed by Russia on 26 per cent.
The survey report said Americans’ support for defending Taiwan was “strong, bipartisan and growing”, with 77 per cent saying it would be important for the US military to defend Taiwan if it was attacked by mainland China.
The poll also found that if that happened, 60 per cent said they would support committing US forces to Taipei’s defence – up from 48 per cent last year – while 70 per cent supported moving US assets to the region and 79 per cent now backed official recognition of the island as independent, all edging up from the previous survey.
