Reminder

The legislature's decision to pass a resolution clearly stating that the ROC (Taiwan) and the PRC are separate entities, which I consider significant but which has passed almost entirely under media radar, is a pretty good reflection of public opinion ; according to 2007 pan-blue media surveys, some 75% of Taiwanese believe Taiwan is an independent and sovereign country. In 2006, the MAC got similar results (76%). Around 80% of voters on both sides of the 2008 presidential election felt Ma's election showed nothing about the average Taiwanese's feelings toward unification.

No more than 13% of people in Taiwan even want to move toward unification in the future, and less than 2% want unification some time soon. More discouraging still to China: over 80% support that Taiwanese should decide their own future, and over 75% oppose the idea that the Chinese have a say in the matter.

I honestly believe that the consensus is so wide that the DPP and KMT could probably put this question behind us, form a consensus, and move on to more nitty gritty topics. Of course, that would involve the DPP giving up what they consider to be a key campaign theme, and would require the KMT to resolve it's absurd contradictions on the One China question. So don't expect the political consensus to crystallize any time soon.