The China Times polling center yesterday accused Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of defaming it by saying the results of a survey it released last week were misleading and politically motivated.
“We are 100 percent confident all polls we conduct follow professional guidelines without considering partisan interests or the intention to mislead the public,” the center said in a half-page statement published in the Chinese-language China Times.
“DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s claim on a TV show that the design of a poll was misleading and with special political intention has severely damaged our name,” the statement said.
Tsai was commenting on a poll that found 53 percent of respondents were opposed to a demonstration organized by the DPP against this week’s visit by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).
To prove its poll was both impartial and accurate, the center invited the DPP’s polling center to conduct the same survey — monitored by attorneys and media outlets.
“If the results are the same as results from polls previously conducted by the DPP, the center would dissolve right away,” the China Times polling center said.
“On the other hand, if the DPP figures are wrong and the DPP polling center was one that manipulated poll results, Tsai should apologize” and the party should never release any poll results again, it said.
The DPP said it did not understand some of the China Times polling center’s remarks and it urged the paper not to overreact.
“At a press conference on Friday, Tsai clearly said that the mass demonstration organized by the DPP was not to protest Chen’s visit. Rather, the objective was to urge the government to follow democratic procedures and be transparent in cross-strait policymaking and to tell China that Taiwan is a sovereign country,” the DPP said. “So we think that the question in the China Times poll about ‘the DPP’s protest against Chen Yunlin’ was misleading.”
Although Tsai said the question was misleading, she never said the poll was politically motivated, as the China Times polling center claimed, the DPP said.
“We do not know where did the phrase ‘with special political intention’ came from, and we hope that the China Times will not overreact,” the DPP said.
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
RSS