President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) popularity has plunged to its lowest level yet, a poll showed yesterday, amid a bribery scandal involving a top official who had been a key confidant.
Ma’s approval rating fell to 15 percent, according to the survey of 1,303 people conducted by the cable news channel TVBS this week, after former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) admitted taking bribes from a businessman.
Ma’s previous lowest approval rating was 16 percent in August 2009 in another TVBS poll, following Typhoon Morakot, which killed more than 600 people and triggered widespread criticism that his government reacted too slowly.
Photo: CNA
A record high of 64 percent said this week they have no faith in Ma’s future performance, while 78 percent said his administration has poor crisis-management skills, according to the latest poll.
Ma also saw his popularity dive 25 percentage points from a January poll conducted by the channel less than two weeks before he was re-elected for a second term.
Observers said Lin’s bribery case dealt a heavy blow to Ma, who won his second term pledging to fight corruption after former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was implicated in several graft cases.
Lin, a former vice chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), was taken into custody on Tuesday after he admitted wrongdoing in a case that also implicated his mother and his wife.
Prosecutors did not specify how much money was involved, but a businessman alleged that Lin was paid NT$63 million (US$2.15 million) to help him gain a contract with a state firm two years ago.
Lin was also accused of soliciting another bribe of NT$83 million this year from the same businessman, who took the story to the media.
‘DEMOCRATIC FISH’: Soichiro Hayashi said he wants to return Taiwan’s kindness after it helped with relief efforts after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami Japanese fish farmers are ready to help Taiwan after China banned Taiwanese grouper imports, the Sankei Shimbun reported yesterday. The Chinese General Administration of Customs suspended imports of the fish on Monday last week, citing prohibited chemicals and excessive levels of oxytetracycline allegedly found in grouper imports since December last year. Soichiro Hayashi, president of the Hayashi Trout Farm in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, is leading the push for Taiwanese grouper imports, the newspaper said. His call has caught the attention of several large sushi chains, the report said. Hayashi, who is the Fukushima branch head of the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association in Japan,
‘TROJAN HORSE’ SCHEME: The comment that a bridge would allow China’s PLA to easily launch an attack shows ‘a lack of backbone,’ Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said Critics accused Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of being oblivious to national security concerns after he proposed constructing a bridge to link Kinmen and China’s Xiamen (廈門). Ko, who is also the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman, made the proposal when presiding over the opening ceremony of the party’s office in Kinmen on Saturday. He said the bridge could solve Kinmen’s population, electricity and garbage problems, as well as serve as a shortcut for leaving or entering Taiwan without traveling via Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport). He also proposed building a hospital in Kinmen to attract people who are seeking medical treatment in
OVER THE HUMP: In a seven-day period ending on Wednesday, the nation reported 366,628 new cases, down 19 percent from the 451,358 reported in the previous week The nation might further open up to more arrivals in the next two months, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 48,283 new local COVID-19 cases, down from more than 50,000 in the previous few days. Taiwan on Wednesday last week introduced a plan to allow up to 25,000 arrivals per week as part of efforts to gradually reopen borders, which includes reducing mandatory quarantines for inbound travelers from seven to three days, followed by four days in “self-initiated epidemic prevention.” The quota covers inbound Taiwanese arrivals, businesspeople and migrant workers. Former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) yesterday said
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it is monitoring Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy ship movements near Taiwan, after the Japanese Ministry of Defense disclosed that Chinese vessels made a rare voyage between Yilan County and Japan’s Yonaguni. The Japanese ministry on Wednesday said that two Chinese navy ships on Tuesday diverted from their usual route of entering the Pacific Ocean via the Miyako Strait and for the first time traveled there between Yilan and Yonaguni. The Japan Self-Defense Forces said that it picked up the presence of China’s Type-056A Jiangdao-class corvette 220km north of Yonaguni at 9am on Tuesday. The
RSS