More than 60 percent of Taiwanese support official contact between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, citing the results of a poll it commissioned.
In the telephone survey conducted from Oct. 11 to Oct. 13, 67.6 percent of respondents gave a thumbs-up to direct official contact across the Strait, the council said.
More than two-thirds (72.7 percent) felt that a mechanism enabling regular direct communication and interaction between the council and the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) under China’s State Council, would boost cross-strait rapprochement and relations.
An almost identical proportion, 72.6 percent, approved of former vice president Vincent Siew’s (蕭萬長) performance at the recent APEC leaders’ forum, saying it had contributed to Taiwan’s bid to join regional economic integration and increase participation in international activities.
The poll also found that 62.8 percent of respondents were pleased to see the council and the TAO arrange for Siew to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping(習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Bali, Indonesia, earlier this month.
In addition, more than half of respondents (56.5 percent) described Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) and TAO Director Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) addressing each other by their official titles at the APEC forum as marking a new milestone in cross-strait engagement.
While 60.7 percent of respondents supported a proposal that Wang visit China, 68.3 percent backed the suggestion that Zhang visit Taiwan.
About two-thirds (67.8 percent) said regular meetings between them would be conducive to the development of cross-strait relations.
Cross-strait communication is presently handled by the Straits Exchange Foundation and China’s Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits.
The poll, conducted by Taiwan Real Survey Co, collected 1,091 valid samples, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.97 percent and a confidence level of 95 percent.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
SECURITY RISK: A university student sent a general alarm signal to THSRC’s control center on April 5, causing four operating trains to temporarily halt services The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday pledged to submit a report on ways to harden the communication security of railway systems after a university student hacked into Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) radio communications system and disrupted operations of four high-speed rail trains last month. Investigation by the police and prosecutors found that the university student and radio enthusiast, surnamed Lin (林), first used a software-defined radio (SDR) filter to analyze THSRC signals, downloaded the data to a computer, cracked the parameters and then programmed the codes into his radio devices. Lin then sent a general alarm signal to
RSS