Nearly 60 percent of the public blame China for Taiwan’s likely exclusion from this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA), with the majority saying the government should take a tougher line on the issue, according to an opinion poll released yesterday.
The monthly poll conducted by the Cross-Strait Policy Foundation found that 56.2 percent of respondents blamed China for Taiwan’s WHA exclusion, while 29.8 percent said the government is responsible.
Asked if the government should call an international news conference to seek WHA participation, 68.9 percent of respondents said yes, while 69 percent said an official delegation should visit Geneva, Switzerland, during the WHA meeting to lodge a formal complaint about Taiwan’s exclusion.
Photo: CNA
Asked if they believed the government had tried hard to seek WHA participation, 58.5 percent of respondents said yes, but 29 percent said it did not.
In terms of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) China policy, 67.7 percent of respondents said they agreed with her “new situation, new test paper and new model” stance, while 22.1 percent disagreed.
Tsai’s policy of maintaining the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait is correct, 63.2 percent of respondents said, while 23.1 percent disagreed.
Asked about the so-called “1992 consensus,” 52 percent of respondents said it involves Taiwan accommodating Beijing’s “one China” principle, while 34.6 percent said the consensus allows room for “different interpretations” under the “one China” principle.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what that means.
Then-KMT Legislator Su Chi (蘇起) said in February 2006 that he had made up the term in 2000, when he headed the Mainland Affairs Council.
Asked if they would accept the “1992 consensus” if it meant accepting the “one China” principle, 70 percent of respondents said they would not and 21.5 percent said they would.
A clear majority said Taiwan should not accept the “1992 consensus” despite its diplomatic isolation (71.9 percent), while 16.4 percent said it should accept the consensus to seek international participation.
Even more feel Taiwan should not engage in “money diplomacy” to compete with China for diplomatic recognition (88.9 percent), while 7.2 percent said Taiwan should do so.
More than half of the respondents (58.4 percent) said Beijing has been provocative in its interactions with Taipei over the past year, but 23.7 percent said it was the other way around.
Meanwhile, Tsai has an approval rating of 55.9 percent and a disapproval rating of 38.5 percent, according to the poll. However, only 40.8 percent of the respondents said they were satisfied with her performance, while 54.8 percent were dissatisfied.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said that while the public approves of the policy direction of Tsai’s administration, they are not happy with the “pace, scale and determination” with which the policies are being carried out.
The government has not held a major news conference on the WHA issue and the only statements made by the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan were press releases, suggesting a difference between public and government attitudes, Lo said.
“The ‘1992 consensus’ has no market in Taiwan if it denotes the ‘one China’ principle but eliminates room for ‘different interpretations,’” National Taiwan Normal University politics professor Fan Shih-ping (范世平) said.
“It is why former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration failed to sell the ‘1992 consensus’ on a ‘different interpretations’ platform because Beijing and other countries have recognized the ‘1992 consensus’ as conditioned on the ‘one China’ principle,” Fan said.
While the Tsai administration has shown self-restraint in maintaining ties with China, Taiwan’s WHA exclusion should be understood as an outcome of the political infighting in Beijing, where hawkish factions are gaining ground, Fan said.
The Cross-Strait Policy Foundation poll was conducted on May 9 and May 10 and had 1,074 valid samples. It has a margin of error of 2.99 percentage points.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique