As the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is expected to replace its presidential candidate, Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) — possibly with KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) — at an extraordinary party congress tomorrow, results of a survey show that the change might bring the party an increase in support.
With the election less than 100 days away, a Taiwan Indicators Survey Research (TISR) opinion poll showed that although Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would still lead if Chu replaces Hung, the margin would shrink from 31 percent to 23 percent.
If Hung remains the KMT nominee, Tsai would have 46.8 percent support, while Hung would have 16.5 percent and People First Party presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) would have 13.5 percent, the results showed.
However, if Chu replaces Hung 44.6 percent of respondents said they would still support Tsai, while Chu would receive 21 percent support and Soong 12 percent.
Despite Chu’s advantage over Hung in the poll, respondents indicated a lack of confidence over his ability to push reform in the KMT.
The survey showed that 29.6 percent of respondents said they believe Chu is capable of pushing reforms, while 51.3 percent said they did not believe he is.
When asked whether Tsai would handle cross-strait relationships according to the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution, 42 percent of respondents said that she would, while 41.2 percent said she would not.
When asked about the future of the cross-strait relationship, 60 percent supported a policy of Taiwan and China as separate nations or exchanges according to the Constitution, while 27.4 percent said they backed President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) support of the so-called “1992 consensus.”
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
The survey was conducted by telephone on Monday and Tuesday, collecting 1,003 valid samples.
TENSE SITUATION: If the storm does not bring rain, Taiwan might have to wait until next month amid water scarcity in the center and south, an expert said Typhoon Surigae is to bring rain to the nation’s east coast and mountainous areas in central and southern Taiwan from Wednesday to Friday, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 1,170km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The radius of the storm was 280km, and it was moving northwest at 9kph, with a maximum wind speed of 198kph. The bureau forecasts that the storm would switch to a northerly direction when approaching the east coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines on Wednesday, CWB forecaster Lin Ding-yi (林定宜) said, adding that Surigae would
SEEKING CLARITY: Some members of the US delegation asked KMT legislators in a meeting to address their party’s position on the so-called ‘1992 consensus,’ sources said A US delegation tasked by US President Joe Biden to reaffirm the country’s commitment to its partnership with Taiwan yesterday wrapped up a three-day visit to Taipei. Former US senator Chris Dodd, former US deputy secretaries of state Richard Armitage and James Steinberg, and US Department of State Office of Taiwan Coordination Director Dan Biers departed at 11:20am on a private jet. The members of the delegation, all friends of Biden, arrived on Wednesday and met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and other government officials. During the three-day visit, the delegation also met with six members of the Legislative
Taipei’s street names should reflect a “Taiwanese spirit,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said in an online video released yesterday, in which he asked why many of them are named after locations in China. In a three-minute video uploaded to a Facebook page called “Taiwanese Uncle Ko Wen-je” (台灣阿北柯文哲), the mayor suggested changing the names of Taipei streets. The page’s banner was a photograph of Ko on Jade Mountain’s (玉山) main peak. The page was closed at about noon, about four hours after it was made public. Ko said that street names in the capital named “Ningxia,” “Tibet,” “Beiping” — an old name for
‘AN EXCUSE’: The intent of Beijing’s incursions was ‘intimidation and coercion,’ a senior US official said, adding that China was using the US to justify its actions Chinese carrier drills and stepped-up incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone in the past few weeks are meant to send a message to Washington to stand down and back off, security sources in Taipei said. The increased activity — which China, unusually, described as “combat drills” on Wednesday — has raised alarm in both Taipei and Washington, although security officials do not see it as a sign of an imminent attack. Rather, at least some of the exercises are practicing “access denial” maneuvers to prevent foreign forces from coming to Taipei’s defense in a war, one official familiar with Taiwan’s security