Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday said he was optimistic about his chances for re-election in the special municipalities elections, brushing off concerns from a key adviser to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that the party could lose the 2012 presidential election if he were to lose in November.
Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), who was drafted by the KMT to help formulate campaign strategies, said the mayoral election in Taipei City, a traditional pan-blue stronghold, was a battle the KMT could not afford to lose. He warned that losing Taipei City could cause a domino effect for President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election bid in 2012.
“If the KMT loses the election in Taipei City, I don’t think the party can remain optimistic about a victory in the 2012 presidential election,” Jaw told reporters at KMT headquarters.
Commenting on Hau’s low approval rating and poor handling of municipal projects, Jaw said the Hau team should present a more solid campaign platform to attract voters.
However, Hau said the controversy over the Xinsheng Overpass and Taipei International Flora Expo should “come to an end soon.”
“I think the worst is over,” the mayor said.
Jaw also challenged the performance of the Cabinet and suggested a Cabinet reshuffle could improve the Ma administration’s communication with the public.
“Many Cabinet officials have poor communication skills … 80 percent of the officials should be replaced,” he said.
KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) defended the Cabinet, saying it had “revived” the economy following the global financial crisis and that members respected Jaw’s views on their performance.
Asked for comment, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said he agreed with Jaw that some Cabinet members needed to improve their communication skills.
However, he said “integrity” was a far more important attribute.
“That [Jaw] didn’t say anything about integrity means that he commends the Cabinet for its integrity — it’s very clear,” Wu said.
Yesterday was Wu’s one-year anniversary as premier.
“I have reviewed the Cabinet’s performance over the past year. Our Cabinet members are competent and clean,” he said.
“If they were incapable, how could Taiwan have been one of the most successful countries combating A(H1N1)? How could it have jumped from No. 23 last year to No. 8 in global competitiveness? How could its economy have grown 13.71 percent in the first quarter this year and 12.53 percent in the second?” he said.
He would not say if there were plans for a Cabinet reshuffle.
Wu’s confidence has not been mirrored in recent polls, however, with the majority of the public having an unfavorable image of him as he heads into his second year.
A survey conducted by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) last week put public approval for Wu at just above 40 percent, while disapproval for his governance record stood at 52 percent.
The perception that Wu was too cozy with big businesses and hadn’t done enough to address unemployment and economic restructuring were the principal reasons for the results, DPP officials said.
“This is basically a failing grade for the premier on his one year anniversary,” DPP poll center director Chen Chun-lin (陳俊麟) said.
“With his lackluster performance, the KMT’s election prospects are undoubtedly going to be affected,” Chen said.
In the five areas set for elections on Nov. 27, only two — the area that will become Sinbei City and the one that will become Greater Taichung — gave Wu an approval rating of more than 40 percent. In Taipei City, which has historically voted pan-blue, Wu had 39.8 percent approval against 50.9 percent disapproval.
In the pan-green stronghold of Tainan city and county, 61 percent of respondents said they were unhappy with his performance and 60.2 percent in the Kaohsiung area said so.
The survey showed Wu’s support was split along party lines, with 84 percent of pan-green voters and 56.8 percent of undecided voters expressing dissatisfaction with him. He had approval rating of 66 percent among pan-blue voters.
The poll was conducted among 1,027 individuals of voting age and had a margin of error of 3.1 percent 19 times out of 20.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
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