In a survey released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, only 17 percent of those polled expressed satisfaction with the overall performance of the ministry while 60 percent gave either an "average" or "dissatisfied" rating.
Lo Chih-cheng (
"Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) hopes the numbers will be a new starting point for Taiwan's diplomacy," Lo said.
In the same survey, 35 percent of the respondents were either satisfied or very satisfied with the services such as consular work or emergency assistance by the foreign ministry.
An estimated half of those polled support Taiwan's participation in international organizations and taking more aggressive steps towards joining the UN.
When asked how the foreign ministry should prioritize its objectives, 37 percent said Taiwan should seek membership of international organizations while 18 percent focused on strengthening and increasing diplomatic recognition as the ministry's most important task.
The other 17.1 percent prioritized improved relations with major international players such as the US and Japan.
In light of Taiwan's annual bid for entry into the UN this month, 46 percent of those polled support a more active approach in pushing for the country's membership while over 50 percent of respondents who identified themselves as either KMT or DPP members advocated such an approach.
While a majority of respondents support Taiwan's participation in international organizations, 52 percent of them also stressed that sovereignty issues such as what name the country will use are also important.
Taiwan uses eight different combinations of names in international organizations or during international events, due to pressure from China.
The country is called "Chinese Taipei" in the APEC Forum and has used "ROC Taiwan" on other occasions.
An estimated 33 percent of respondents say the name issue is not important.
With President Chen Shui-bian's (
Taiwan currently has formal ties with 29 states, most of them in Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean.
The number of countries with diplomatic ties to Taiwan fell to 22 between 1979-1980, right after the US severed formal relations with Taiwan, and dropped again in 1988. China has continued a campaign to woo Taiwan's political allies to establish formal relations with Beijing.
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