On the eve of the final year of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) second four-year term today, Ma’s disapproval rating stood at nearly 70 percent or higher in various surveys, while his approval rating was as low as less than 20 percent.
About 68.4 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with Ma’s performance as president, against 21.3 percent who said they were satisfied, in a telephone-based poll conducted on Sunday, Taiwan Thinktank said yesterday.
A cross-analysis of differences in political party affiliation found that among respondents who identified themselves as supporters of the pan-blue camp, 50.5 percent said they found Ma’s governance dissatisfactory, the poll showed.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The survey found 49.1 percent of respondents doubted the image Ma has sought to establish as a clean politician because they said they believed there might have been some irregularities involving Ma in his handling of the Taipei Dome project when he was Taipei mayor, while 29.2 percent believed he was clean.
The president has repeatedly stressed that only by respecting the so-called “1992 consensus” — an alleged agreement between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party that there is “one China, with each side having its own interpretation of what ‘one China’” means” — can the “status quo” be maintained, but the survey found that a majority of people did not agree.
According to the survey, 68.7 percent of the public said they support maintaining the “status quo,” while only 15.4 percent said they support the “1992 consensus.”
KMT Chairman and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) description of cross-strait relations as “both sides belonging to one China,” to which Ma has given his endorsement, was supported by only 13 percent of respondents, while 77.4 percent said Taiwan and China are both sovereign states, independent of each other and not subordinate to the other, the survey found.
About 50.2 percent of respondents said the government should place more consideration on the impact of cross-strait exchanges and negotiations on national security, while 38.1 percent said economic benefits should be the main concern, the poll showed.
On a scale of zero to 10, with zero indicating “not at all” and 10 signifying “extremely,” the extent to which respondents perceived Taiwan as depending on China to maintain its economic growth stood at 6.1. Moreover, 62.2 percent of respondents said Taiwan should deepen its economic ties with countries other than China.
A survey that the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times) conducted from Saturday to Monday found that 14.52 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with Ma’s performance over the past seven years, against 64.3 percent who thought the opposite.
Similar results were found in a survey released by the TVBS poll center yesterday showing Ma’s approval rating at 16 percent and disapproval rating at 67 percent.
In another poll, conducted by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research, 15.4 percent expressed satisfaction with Ma, while 75.7 percent were dissatisfied.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique