A poll conducted by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission in May showed that less than 40 percent of people were satisfied with the cross-strait policy of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, sparking accusations yesterday that Ma’s policy was serving the interests of China rather than Taiwan. The survey results were released earlier this month.
The survey asked respondents to rank their level of satisfaction with the government’s policy on a scale of zero to 10, where a score of less than four meant “dissatisfied,” five “neutral” and above six “satisfied.”
In terms of cross-strait policy, 29 percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied, 24.6 were neutral, 38.9 percent were satisfied, while 7.5 percent give no opinion, the survey showed.
The commission asked respondents to indicate on a scale from zero to 10 the level of importance they attached to cross-strait policy, with zero being not important and 10 being important.
It found that 59.1 percent of respondents gave the issue a score of at least six points, 18.8 percent gave it a score of five and 12.5 percent gave it less than 4 points, while 9.6 percent did not express any view.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) yesterday said the results of the survey showed that the government had failed to live up to the public’s expectations on cross-strait relations.
“That less than 40 percent of people surveyed were satisfied with Ma’s cross-strait policy in a government-conducted poll shows that his policy is satisfying China, not the people of Taiwan,” Chen said.
Responding to Chen’s analysis, Research, Development and Evaluation Commission Deputy Minister Sung Yu-hsieh (宋餘俠) said the DPP’s reading of the survey was wrong.
More than 63.5 percent of respondents gave a score of five or higher when asked about their satisfaction level with cross-strait policy, showing that they were satisfied, Sung said.
The commission carried out the survey on May 24 and May 25 and collected 1,202 valid samples. The poll had a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of less than 2.93 percentage points.
The result was released on the commission’s Web site on Oct. 12.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS