BEIJING -- A survey of more than 1,000 people in Taiwan has showed that more than half favor developing exchanges with the Chinese mainland.

In the survey, conducted on August 10 and 11 at the request of Taiwan Thinktank, people were asked by telephone whether it was more important to "develop exchanges with the mainland" or to develop relations with other countries.

Of the 1,072 respondents, 50.7 percent put "developing exchanges with the mainland" first, 38.7 percent chose "developing relations with other countries" and the rest chose not to respond, according to survey results released by Taiwan Thinktank.

"It shows Taiwan people have high hopes for cross-Strait relations," said Yung-Ming Hsu, assistant research fellow of Taiwan's "Academia Sinica".

He said the survey shows the majority of Taiwan people believe "(international) diplomacy is useless" and "cross-Straits relations are omnipotent". The mainland's policies on Taiwan are effective and have produced results, he added.

He said the mainland has more leverage in influencing changes in cross-Strait relations.

Asked what was the most appropriate means of achieving "space in the international community", 38.7 percent chose the pursuit of dialogue with the Chinese mainland, 34.9 percent chose their "own efforts" and 17.8 percent chose to "seek the help of major powers".

Asked to select the political party they most identified with in terms of ideology and policies, 45 percent chose the Kuomintang, 18.5 percent chose the Democratic Progressive Party, 5.5 percent chose the Taiwan Solidarity Union and 2.3 percent chose the People First Party.