Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) justification for replacing Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) as the party’s presidential candidate does not seem to hold water, as he appears to be even more unpopular than Hung among pan-blue supporters, a survey released yesterday showed.
The poll, conducted by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research on Monday and Tuesday, showed that nearly 57 percent of respondents feel unfavorably toward Chu, with only 24 percent saying they had a good impression of the KMT chairman.
That compares with a similar poll carried out by the research group last month — when Hung was still the KMT’s candidate — with 52 percent of respondents expressing their disfavor of the deputy legislative speaker, while 30 percent supported her.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Chu, who has been hailed by most KMT members as the party’s only hope of continuing its reign, also received a higher disapproval rating of 22.1 percent among respondents identified as pan-blue than Hung, who garnered 17.3 percent in last month’s survey.
The results indicate that the aftermath of the KMT’s controversial move on Oct. 17 to force Hung out of the Jan. 16 presidential race and nominate Chu instead continues to take a toll on the chairman’s election prospects, the survey center said.
The results also undercut the KMT’s rationale behind removing Hung, which cited her consistently lackluster support ratings, which the party said could jeopardize its legislative majority, as well as her pro-unification policies, which it said strayed from the party’s cross-strait stance.
Asked who they plan to vote for in the presidential election, 47.1 percent of respondents said they would support Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), 16.4 percent said they favored Chu and 10.2 percent preferred People First Party (PFP) challenger James Soong (宋楚瑜). Thirteen percent said they would abstain from voting, while 13.4 percent declined to express an opinion.
It is worth noting that Chu’s support rating was close to that of Hung — at 15.6 percent in a survey released on Oct. 15 — before she was edged out by her own party.
As for their perception about major political parties in Taiwan and China, 42 percent of those polled had a good opinion of the DPP, compared with 21.6 percent for the KMT and 13.7 percent for the Chinese Communist Party.
The poll collected 1,004 valid samples from residents aged 20 or above across the nation. It has a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS