President Chen Shui-bian (
A poll by the China Times of 3,391 eligible voters found that 40 percent backed Chen while support for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
The newspaper said the findings reflected a setback for the opposition following claims by Chen's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that more than 2 million people joined a 500km human chain almost the length of the island a week ago.
The "228 Hand-in-Hand Rally" was called to protest against hundreds of Chinese missiles pointed at the island but was also designed to rally supporters of the pro-independence DPP ahead of the March 20 presidential poll.
Analysts said the KMT had to rally its traditional support base and encourage them to come out to vote during the final two weeks of campaigning.
Lien led most polls over the previous year after highlighting concerns about the economy and the nation's uneasy relations with China.
However the latest poll conducted by the China Times from March 1 to March 5 showed Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (
The poll found that support for Chen and Lu had remained steady at around 40 percent but Lien and Soong's support had dropped 5 percentage points, compared with a poll conducted by the newspaper last month.
The number of undecided voters increased from 17 percent last month to 22, reflecting how the support of some opposition voters had been shaken by the human chain rally, according to the newspaper.
"Though the rally has not helped expand the DPP's support base, it was successful psychological warfare," it said.
The DPP has attempted to capitalize on the big turnout of its supporters with the release of a new party political broadcast featuring the rally calling it the "Great Wall of Taiwan."
Emile Sheng (
Sheng said the support base of the KMT and Soong's People First Party was marginally larger than that of the DPP.
"Incidents such as the rally can only intensify or weaken wavering voters' desire to express themselves and go to the poll," Sheng said.
The opposition has announced plans to stimulate its campaign with a series of mass marches a week before polling day to protest against alleged corruption within government ranks.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS