Nearly 70 percent of the respondents to a recent poll expressed approval of the institutional cross-Taiwan Strait negotiations, saying they are helpful to forging peace and stability in relations between Taiwan and China. The survey, conducted by the poll center of the Taipei Municipal University of Education under the commission of the Mainland Affairs Council, found that 65 percent of the respondents agreed that the establishment of communication channels between relevant government agencies of the two sides will help solve the problems resulting from increased cross-strait exchanges. On a proposed agreement on the avoidance of double taxation that was not signed as scheduled in the latest round of cross-strait talks that concluded last week in Taiwan, 58 percent of those polled said they support the government's move to postpone the inking of the pact. With regard to the agenda for the next round of talks -- scheduled in the first half of next year in China -- 73 percent of those surveyed said the issue of intellectual property rights protection should be included, while 55 percent said they favor discussion on the proposed cross-strait economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA). The survey also found that after the latest talks, there was no apparent change in the percentage of people who categorically support either Taiwan's unification with or independence from China. Those who were broadly classified as supportive of maintaining the status quo -- including those who favor maintaining the status quo forever and those who would prefer maintaining the status quo now and then moving toward either unification or independence -- accounted for 88 percent of the respondents, with those who support the status quo forever increasing slightly to 30 percent. The percentage of those who are broadly classified as favoring unification -- including the status quo and then unification -- and those broadly classified as favoring independence -- including the status quo and then independence -- remained unchanged at 10 percent and 20 percent, respectively, according to the survey. The survey, conducted Dec. 25-27 with 1,092 valid samples collected, has a margin of error of 3 percentage points. 