Nearly Half of Australians Support Sending Troops to Defend Taiwan: Poll

Two soldiers fold the national flag during the daily flag ceremony on the Liberty Square of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, on July 30, 2022. AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying

A new poll shows that almost one in two Australians support Australia sending troops to help defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion by Beijing.

This is a much higher percentage of the population than in Japan and the United States, where about one in three respondents supported sending local troops, according to an online poll by YouGov commissioned by the U.S. Studies Centre, University of Sydney.