Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) presidential campaign theme of “Taiwan’s first female president” failed to resonate with voters, according to a poll released by the Taiwanese Association for Pacific Ocean Development (TAPOD) yesterday.
A survey conducted three days before Saturday’s presidential election, in which President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) won his re-election bid, showed that two in three voters, or 66.7 percent, said they were “not interested” in Tsai’s campaign theme, TAPOD chairman You Ying-lung (游盈隆) said at a press conference held to announce the results.
Only 25.5 percent of a total of 1,646 respondents said they supported the theme, You said, adding that the results were not released until yesterday because election law prohibits disclosure or distribution of any surveys during the final 10 days of an election campaign.
Tsai failed to garner support from women voters, trailing in support among women by 15 percent as data showed 43.6 percent of women voters favored Ma, while 28.6 percent supported Tsai, the survey found.
The poll showed that 40.1 percent of respondents said they would vote for Ma, 32.7 percent would vote for Tsai and 7.2 percent would support People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).
Tsai’s initiative of a grand coalition government, unveiled during the last week of her campaign, did win support from 57.2 percent of the respondents, while 24 percent said they were against it.
On the DPP’s China policy, which was seen by many analysts as the major reason for Tsai’s loss, former DPP chairperson Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良) told the press conference that Tsai should try to incorporate her cross-strait initiative into a new party resolution to replace the existing one before she steps down on March 1.
Hsu said he agreed with former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), who said the DPP should revise the “Taiwan independence clause” since its China policy was unable to convince most voters.
“The last mile to the presidency that Tsai has mentioned will be the cross-strait issue,” Hsu said.
The DPP’s presidential campaign was hurt by the discussion of the so-called “1992 consensus” and pro-China comments made by several business leaders, he said.
“It is time for the DPP to adjust its China policy,” Hsu said.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS