More than half of Americans questioned in a new survey said they favor using U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if China was to invade the island. Analysts say that reflects a growing awareness in the United States about Taiwan and the challenges it faces.The Chicago Council on Global Affairs survey found that 52% of Americans support using U.S. troops to defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion of the island. A smaller percentage of respondents — 19% — supported a U.S. defense of Taiwan when Glaser told VOA she was surprised at the percentage of Americans who think the U.S. should recognize Taiwan as an independent country. “I think Americans, not surprisingly, don’t understand all of the complicated factors involved in that kind of decision,” she said.She pointed out that the results of the survey had a lot to do with how the questions were asked.”If you asked Americans, ‘Should the United States recognize Taiwan as an independent country even if it would lead to an all-out war with China?’ You’d probably get a different response.” she said.Julian Ku, an expert on China’s relationship with international law and a law professor at Hofstra University, agreed that the polling results suggest that Americans have limited knowledge of Taipei.He wrote on Twitter that while this trend toward much greater public support for defending Taiwan is important, “it is very iffy to use polls as a basis for foreign policy.”It is very iffy to use polls as a basis for foreign policy, but this trend line toward much greater public support for defending Taiwan in the US seems very important. https://t.co/GxFk29qkXJpic.twitter.com/lqWAz7WVuk— Julian Ku 古舉倫 (@julianku) August 26, 2021Glaser agreed, telling VOA that public opinion should be taken into account, but it shouldn’t be the decisive factor in the formation of any policy.”At the end of the day, what this poll reveals to me is that we need to have a lot more education for Americans about these kinds of subjects,” she said.  
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