The majority of Taiwanese favor increased cross-strait exchanges, but appear to be very cautious about a peace agreement between Taiwan and China, the results of a public opinion poll released yesterday showed.
Asked if they support the signing of a bilateral peace agreement, with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) pledging “10 guarantees” in 2011, almost 70 percent of the respondents in a poll conducted by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research (TISR) said negotiations for such an accord should not begin before receiving authorization from a national referendum.
The poll found that 26.8 percent of respondents said negotiations should only begin after a referendum, 17.1 percent said the government should negotiate first and put the result to a referendum, and 41.5 percent said that both the beginning of negotiations and the results should be authorized by referendums.
Photo: Hsieh Chieh-yu, Taipei Times
“That means a total of 68.3 percent of those polled would grant a go-ahead to negotiations for a peace deal only after a national referendum,” TISR general manager Tai Li-an (戴立安) said in a press release.
Approximately the same percentage of respondents, 67.9 percent, opposed the notion that if a cross-strait peace pact was signed, unification with China should be recognized as a national goal, with 17.2 percent supportive and 15 percent declining to provide an answer.
In a question that allowed respondents to make multiple choices, most expressed support for increased bilateral exchanges, including mutual visits by officials of the Mainland Affairs Council and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (60.2 percent), the establishment of representative offices on each other’s territory (57.5 percent) and shortening Chinese spouses’ waiting period for identification cards from six years to four (52.4 percent).
The support rate for trade pacts were lower, with 35.2 percent of those polled supporting a cross-strait trade in goods agreement and 31.8 percent supportive of the service trade pact, which was signed in June.
The respondents’ reaction to the order of priority between the service trade agreement and the trade in goods agreement, which is yet to be signed, appeared to be split, with 36.2 percent saying that the trade in goods pact could be signed before the current dispute over the service trade pact is settled, 42.7 percent opposing the proposal and 22.8 percent declining to answer.
The poll found Ma’s approval rating remained low at 14.3 percent, while his disapproval rating was 71.7 percent.
“A notable fact was that Ma’s disapproval rating was around 80 percent among respondents between 20 and 49 years old,” Tai said.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah’s (江宜樺) disapproval rating of 58.6 percent was the highest since he assumed the post in February, according to the poll.
The survey, conducted between Monday and Tuesday, collected 1,007 valid samples and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
PIVOTAL ROLE: Taiwan’s importance in the global chip supply chain can be bolstered by domestic equipment manufacturing, President Tsai Ing-wen said Efforts must be made to better secure Taiwan’s place in the global supply chain by localizing production of equipment and facilities used by the semiconductor industry, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday. Tsai discussed the issue during a meeting with representatives from the Taiwan Electronic Equipment Industry Association at the Presidential Office in Taipei. Product shortages throughout the COVID-19 pandemic — particularly of automotive chips — highlighted the pivotal role of Taiwan in the global supply chain, she said. Tsai thanked the association for cooperating with the government on the shared goal of localizing production of important semiconductor industry equipment.
TRACING UNDER WAY: The CECC has identified six transmission chains among 25 recently confirmed COVID-19 cases, including those linked to a restaurant and a bank The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 54 new COVID-19 infections — 44 imported and 10 local — and identified six transmission chains among local cases. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the imported cases are 18 who tested positive upon arrival at the airport and 26 who tested positive during quarantine. Of the local cases, seven are associated with a cluster infection at a Tasty Steak (西堤牛排) outlet in Taoyuan’s Zhongli District (中壢), one is linked to a family of four with COVID-19 reported on Monday, one is a family member of an
BILINGUAL NATION 2030: Those interested can apply online, while recruitment would continue until all of the positions are filled, the Ministry of Education said The recruitment of foreign English teachers for elementary and junior-high schools would be expanded in the 2022-2023 school year as part of Taiwan’s efforts to become a bilingual country, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said yesterday. In a statement, the ministry said that it has since 2004 hired 81 foreign nationals per year to teach English in 16 smaller counties and cities to build a better English-learning environment for students. However, for the 2022-2023 school year, the number of foreign English teachers recruited would increase to 531, with some of them to be posted to Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan
Taiwan’s 5G service would not interfere with civil aviation, as there is a broad guard frequency band between the two systems, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday. The 5G system’s possible risks to flight safety came under scrutiny after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last week warned that 5G services in the C-band spectrum might interfere with radio altimeters on certain types of aircraft, which could prevent a plane from stopping on the runway after landing. Pilots use radio altimeters when landing under low-visibility. Major US carriers last week also said that 5G service plans offered by AT&T and Verizon
RSS