President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) approval rating is 41 percent, while 57 percent approved of her performance in protecting Taiwan’s sovereignty, a Cross-Strait Policy Association survey showed yesterday, the third anniversary her inauguration.
The survey showed that 53.2 percent of respondents disapproved of Tsai’s general performance in the past three years and 5.8 percent were undecided or did not answer, while 36.6 percent disapproved of her protection of national sovereignty, with 6.7 percent undecided or not answering.
Asked about Tsai’s efforts to counter false news reports, 56.6 percent approved, 29.6 percent disapproved and 13.7 percent were undecided or did not answer.
The survey asked people about their opinion of China’s attitude toward Taiwan after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Jan. 2 introduced his “five conditions” in a speech touted by Beijing as the “guiding principles for a new era of China-Taiwan policy.” The survey showed that 59.9 percent disapproved, 15.6 percent approved and 24.5 percent were undecided or did not answer.
“Tsai takes a tough stance on cross-strait relations, but with some moderation to avoid creating more conflict, so she has received a positive evaluation,” National Taiwan Normal University professor Fan Shih-ping (范世平) said.
With Xi promoting the “one county, two systems” formula as a model for unification, Tsai was the only politician who took a firm and persistent stance against it, which earned recognition from Taiwanese, Fan said.
The Hong Kong Security Bureau’s proposed amendments to the territory’s Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, which would allow Hong Kong suspects to be extradited to China, has sparked fear among Taiwanese, so more people hope that the government maintains its tough stance to protect the nation’s sovereignty, Fan said.
Disapproval of Tsai’s general performance is mostly due to her internal affairs policies, association deputy secretary-general Lin Ting-hui (林廷輝) said.
While people used the metaphor “accidentally picked up a gun” to describe Tsai’s quick response to Xi’s speech, it shows that her administration “had prepared a gun,” Lin said.
If next year’s presidential election is focused on cross-strait relations, Tsai’s high approval rating on this issue would likely reflect in voting, Lin said.
The telephone survey was conducted on Thursday and Friday last week, collecting data from 1,069 people aged 20 or above. It has a confidence level of 95 percent and margin of error of 3 percentage points.
SPEEDING ELETRIC VEHICLES: Available without license requirements, the low-cost vehicles, especially if illicitly modified, can often reach a dangerous speed The government should crack down on illegal electric bicycles and scooters, the non-profit Consumers’ Foundation said on Friday, citing research on the potentially dangerous speed of the vehicles. Electric bicycles and lightweight electric scooters have gained popularity as they do not require registration and riders do not need licenses, the foundation said, adding that as many as 40 percent of them can reach speeds exceeding the legal limit of 25kph for non-licensed two-wheelers. Some consumers also purchased legal electric vehicles and modified them to reach higher speeds, it said. “If the government does not step up efforts to confiscate these
DIPLOMATIC MOVES: Beijing is reportedly pressing the state after reports of forming links with Taiwan, while the ministry is also planning to reopen its office in Guam soon A representative office is set to open in Somaliland at the end of this month, at the earliest, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday amid reports that Beijing is sending a diplomatic delegation to the east African country. The ministry on July 1 announced that Taiwan and Somaliland would establish representative offices, following a report by the Somaliland Chronicle Web site. It said at the time that the two nations did not plan to establish formal ties. Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi has instructed close confidants to explore the possibility of “mutual recognition between Taiwan and Somaliland,” the Somaliland Chronicle reported
‘IMMORAL, INSINCERE’: Huang Kun-huei said that Ma was ‘distorting history’ in claiming that Lee Teng-hui laid the foundation for the so-called ‘1992 consensus’ Former Presidential Office secretary-general Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) on Saturday rejected former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) claim that former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) had been a proponent of Beijing’s “one China” principle. Lee, who served as president from 1988 to 2000, died in Taipei on Thursday last week. After visiting the Taipei Guest House on Saturday to pay his respects to Lee, Ma posted on Facebook that “28 years ago on this day” Lee hosted a session of the now-defunct National Unification Council, during which he passed a resolution on the “one China” principle. That resolution became the basis of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s
A Belgian man who tested positive for COVID-19 in Taiwan last week is likely to have contracted the disease in Taipei in late June, National Taiwan University (NTU) College of Public Health vice dean Tony Chen (陳秀熙) said yesterday. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Saturday reported that the man, who is in his 20s, came to Taiwan for work on May 3 and tested positive on Wednesday last week as he was about to depart. The man in March reported loss of taste and smell, the center said, adding that he worked in Changhua County, but visited Taipei several times,
RSS