TAIPEI – Many Taiwanese believe that Japan would come to Taiwan’s aid militarily if China invades the self-ruled island, a survey released on Tuesday showed.

The survey published by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed that 58 percent of the people polled said they think it possible that Japan would dispatch troops for Taiwan’s defense, while 35 percent of the respondents said they did not think so.

The poll also showed that 65 percent of the respondents believed the United States would come to Taiwan’s aid militarily should China invade, while 28.5 percent felt it would not.

In the survey, 64.3 percent of the respondents disagreed that China would one day invade, while 28.1 percent agreed. The figure for those who said China could invade Taiwan was more than double that of the previous survey.

The overseas activities of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces are strictly limited under the country’s war-renouncing postwar Constitution.

Taiwan and mainland China have been separately governed since they split as a result of a civil war in 1949. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province awaiting reunification by force if necessary. Their relationship has deteriorated during President Tsai Ing-wen’s tenure, which began in May 2016.

The survey, conducted by computer-assisted telephone interviewing with a random sample of 1,075 adults from around the island, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence interval.