More than half of the people in a new poll disapproved of Saturday's anti-arms procurement rally and felt that it is necessary for the government to increase the defense budget and strengthen defense abilities in the face of China's military intimidation.
The poll, conducted by Decision-Making Research (決策調查公司) between Sept. 21 and Sept. 23 and made available yesterday by the Government Information Office (GIO), found that nearly 56 percent of the respondents said that they did not support Saturday's march, while more than 28 percent said that they approved of it.
The rally was organized to protest the government's proposed NT$610.8 billion (US$18 billion) arms-procurement budget for US weaponry. Opponents argue that the policy would lead to an arms race with China and eventually to war, among other objections.
The survey found that 57 percent of the respondents felt it was necessary to increase the defense budget and strengthen defense abilities in the face of China's military threat, while over 31 percent felt no such need.
When asked to decide between the importance of strengthening the defense budget and increasing budgets for social welfare and education, nearly 53 percent of the respondents said that they were equally important, while about 35 percent said it was more important to increase the social welfare and education budgets.
Only 6.2 percent said that it was more important to beef up defense capabilities and safeguard national security.
The survey found more than 71 percent of respondents said the legislature should pass the statute regarding the disposition of assets improperly obtained by political parties (政黨不當取得財產處理條例) soon, while 6.7 disagreed.
The Cabinet approved the draft statute in September 2002, but it has been bogged down in the legislative procedure ever since. The proposed bill would empower the government to investigate and confiscate assets that have been unlawfully obtained by parties.
The survey results contradicted a poll conducted by a pro-China Chinese-language newspaper which was released on Sunday.
About 50 percent of respondents to that poll said they opposed the government's plan to spend more than NT$610 billion over the next 15 years to acquire weaponry from the US. Only 31 percent said they supported the plan.
The newspaper poll found that 55 percent of respondents said the arms proposal would not guarantee peace and security across the Taiwan Strait.
Meanwhile, the poll conducted by Decision-Making Research found that about 38 percent of respondents supported the Democratic Progressive Party and Tai-wan Solidarity Union's decision not to name members to a committee to investigate the March 19 assassination attempt, while 33 percent said they did not approve.
More than 58 percent of res-pondents said that they did not think a committee composed of representatives of the pan-blue alliance, would be able to find truth, while 18 percent said it would.
About 67 percent said that they supported the government's request for a constitutional interpretation of the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute (三一九槍擊事件真相調查特別委員會條例), while nearly 14 percent disagreed.
If the Council of Grand Justices does rule on the constitutionality of the statute, more than 71 percent said that all parties should accept the ruling, while only 7 percent said they should not.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS