Most say US needs to increase preparations for military threats from China: survey

A majority of Americans surveyed in a poll released Wednesday said the U.S. needs to increase preparations for potential military threats from China, amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.

The Reuters-Ipsos poll found 66 percent of respondents believe America “needs to do more to prepare for military threats from China.” 

Republican respondents were more likely than their Democratic counterparts to call for additional military preparations, a split often mirrored by their parties’ respective lawmakers. While 58 percent of Democrats in the poll said the U.S. should boost preparations, 81 percent of Republicans said the same.

However, less than half of Americans in the poll — 38 percent — said they would support deploying U.S. troops to Taiwan in the case of a Chinese attack. Another 42 percent said they would oppose sending troops to Taiwan, while 20 percent said they were unsure, the poll found.

The self-governing island off the eastern coast of China has often been a flashpoint between Washington and Beijing. China lays claim to Taiwan, while the U.S. acknowledges that claim without accepting it and opposes any unilateral change to the status quo under its ambiguous “one China” policy.

The Reuters-Ipsos poll was conducted Aug. 14-15 with 1,005 adults, including 443 Democrats and 346 Republicans, and had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.