President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday remained tight-lipped on whether he was planning to reshuffle the Cabinet in the near future, saying that the evaluation of officials’ performance was an ongoing process.
He did say, however, that maintaining a stable government was a priority and that new government officials would have very little time to adjust to their new positions if he were to appoint new Cabinet members.
While he declined to say whether he was considering a Cabinet reshuffle, he said that the public would find out one way or another if any new appointments were made.
Ma made the remarks in a live interview with a radio station yesterday morning. His comments were made in response to the host stating that the approval ratings of both Ma and his government were plummeting.
While opposition parties have accused Ma of being incompetent, the president said he had accomplished several significant objectives since he took office in May, including on the diplomatic front, arms procurement from the US and cross-strait relations.
“I really don’t know what to say if some people still think I am incompetent,” he said.
Ma said that, in response to the criticism, he would conduct a review with an open mind and make adjustments accordingly.
The president said that the global economic downturn had played a significant part in public displeasure with the performance of his government.
Ma said his administration had adopted several measures to improve the economy, which is export-based and has received a significant blow from the global economic downturn.
The government’s initiatives included steps to increase domestic demand by investing in the construction of infrastructure projects, he said.
While the projects would take some time to show concrete results, Ma said that the fundamentals of the country’s economy remained sound.
Commenting on his sagging popularity ratings, Ma said he would reflect on his own performance, but added that he did not need to panic and just had to keep calm and be patient.
He said he would refrain from implementing impractical showcase policies just to salvage his approval ratings.
Ma added that he was confident that he was capable of leading the country as it weathers the global financial crisis.
A survey released by Global Views monthly magazine last month showed that more than 65 percent of Taiwanese were unhappy with the Ma administration.
The telephone survey of 1,005 people showed that 67.6 percent of respondents did not approve of his performance since assuming office.
A total of 43.4 percent said they did not trust him, while those who approved of his performance dropped to 23.6 percent from 24.9 the previous month.
The survey also showed that 61.7 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the performance of KMT lawmakers.
Even among pan-blue supporters, 47.5 percent voiced their discontent.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods