Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) justification for replacing Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) as the party’s presidential candidate does not seem to hold water, as he appears to be even more unpopular than Hung among pan-blue supporters, a survey released yesterday showed.
The poll, conducted by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research on Monday and Tuesday, showed that nearly 57 percent of respondents feel unfavorably toward Chu, with only 24 percent saying they had a good impression of the KMT chairman.
That compares with a similar poll carried out by the research group last month — when Hung was still the KMT’s candidate — with 52 percent of respondents expressing their disfavor of the deputy legislative speaker, while 30 percent supported her.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Chu, who has been hailed by most KMT members as the party’s only hope of continuing its reign, also received a higher disapproval rating of 22.1 percent among respondents identified as pan-blue than Hung, who garnered 17.3 percent in last month’s survey.
The results indicate that the aftermath of the KMT’s controversial move on Oct. 17 to force Hung out of the Jan. 16 presidential race and nominate Chu instead continues to take a toll on the chairman’s election prospects, the survey center said.
The results also undercut the KMT’s rationale behind removing Hung, which cited her consistently lackluster support ratings, which the party said could jeopardize its legislative majority, as well as her pro-unification policies, which it said strayed from the party’s cross-strait stance.
Asked who they plan to vote for in the presidential election, 47.1 percent of respondents said they would support Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), 16.4 percent said they favored Chu and 10.2 percent preferred People First Party (PFP) challenger James Soong (宋楚瑜). Thirteen percent said they would abstain from voting, while 13.4 percent declined to express an opinion.
It is worth noting that Chu’s support rating was close to that of Hung — at 15.6 percent in a survey released on Oct. 15 — before she was edged out by her own party.
As for their perception about major political parties in Taiwan and China, 42 percent of those polled had a good opinion of the DPP, compared with 21.6 percent for the KMT and 13.7 percent for the Chinese Communist Party.
The poll collected 1,004 valid samples from residents aged 20 or above across the nation. It has a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among