Already battered by a low public approval rating, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took another beating with a survey in which he came last in a poll on public trust in local and foreign leaders.
The survey was conducted by the Taiwan Indicators Survey Research to gauge Taiwanese perspectives on domestic affairs and Taiwan-US-China relations.
Asked if they trust Ma, 26.1 percent of respondents said they do, while more than half, or 55.5 percent, said they do not.
Taiwanese appear to have higher levels of trust in US President Barack Obama, with 44.9 percent of respondents saying that they trust the US’ first black president, compared with 28.5 percent who said they do not.
While fewer Taiwanese — or 19 percent of respondents — seem to trust Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping (習近平), only 34.4 percent said they are skeptical of the new Chinese leader.
Asked about newly sworn-in Taiwan Affairs Office Director Zhang Zhijun’s (張志軍) hope to visit Taiwan, 22.2 percent of respondents said they oppose such a visit, while 56.4 percent are in favor of it.
The results show growing public acceptance of visits by Chinese figureheads tasked with cross-strait affairs, Taiwan Indicators Survey Research general manager Tai Li-an (戴立安) said, comparing the results of the survey to that of a poll conducted by the Global Views Survey Research Center in 2008.
“Only about 50.3 percent of respondents approved of a planned visit by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) that year, compared with 31.3 percent who opposed it,” Tai said.
On the politically sensitive issue of the contested Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) — over which Taiwan, China and Japan claim sovereignty — 47.7 percent of respondents said Taiwan should agree to China dispatching vessels to protect Chinese and Taiwanese fishing boats near the area, especially after the US government warned both government and private-owned Taiwanese vessels against the island chain. Only 30.5 percent of respondents opposed the idea.
However, respondents who identify themselves with the pan-green camp are more divided on the thorny issue, with 41.4 percent in favor of the idea and 43.8 percent opposing it.
In contrast, the majority — or 63.8 percent — of respondents who are sympathetic to the pan-blue camp support such an idea, with merely 20.6 percent expressing disapproval.
The telephone survey was conducted between Tuesday and Wednesday through a random sampling of 1,004 Taiwanese aged 20 or above. The poll had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
REACHING OUT: President Tsai expressed condolences to the deceased man’s family and wished a speedy recovery to those who were wounded in the shooting The Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) on Monday called on the US to label organizations associated with the suspect in the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church shooting as domestic terrorists, following accusations that he was a member of a group backing unification with ties to the Chinese government. David Wenwei Chou (周文偉), 68, was arrested on Sunday and is being held in lieu of US$1 million bail at the Orange County Intake Release Center over a mass shooting at the California church that left one dead and five wounded. Local police suspect the shooting was politically motivated after they found notes in
NO CONSENSUS YET: Local governments and the CECC have agreed to change the ‘3+4’ self-isolation policy, but are still mulling what to replace it with The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) and local governments have agreed to ease restrictions on close contacts of COVID-19 cases, although the details are still being discussed, the center said yesterday. The discussions follow Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Saturday approving a proposal to shorten the “3+4” policy — three days of home isolation followed by four days of self-disease prevention — for close contacts who have received booster doses. “We did not reach a consensus on how to revise the current restrictions, but we all agreed that the administrative burden must be reduced and the intensity of restrictions must be eased,
OPPOSING CHINESE ‘HOSTILITY’: The bill orders the state secretary to create a plan to regain observer status for Taiwan, saying Taipei is a model contributor to world health US President Joe Biden on Friday signed a bill into law to help Taiwan regain observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA), demonstrating Washington’s support for Taiwan’s international participation. Friday was the deadline for Biden to sign the bill (S.812), which directs “the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization (WHO), and for other purposes.” The 75th WHA, the decisionmaking body of the WHO, is scheduled to meet in Geneva, Switzerland, from Sunday next week to May 28. The bill, introduced by US Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the US Senate
‘DAMOCLES SWORD’: An Italian missionary said the arrest of cardinal Zen is a blow for the church in Hong Kong, China and the world, signaling great danger ahead China yesterday defended the arrest of a 90-year-old Catholic cardinal under Hong Kong’s National Security Law, a move that triggered international outrage and deepened concerns over Beijing’s crackdown on freedoms in the territory. Retired cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君), one of the most senior Catholic clerics in Asia, was among a group of veteran democracy advocates arrested on Wednesday for “colluding with foreign forces.” Pop singer Denise Ho (何韻詩), veteran barrister Margaret Ng (吳靄儀) and cultural studies academic Hui Po-keung (許寶強) were also arrested, the latter as he attempted to fly to Europe to take up an academic post. Cyd Ho (何秀蘭), a democracy
RSS