A survey released yesterday by the Taiwan chapter of Transparency International (TI) showed the public had little faith in the government's ability to fight corruption.
"While 68 percent of respondents said they were not satisfied with the government's crackdown on corruption, 41 percent said they were apathetic about government improvement in terms of integrity," said Chen Chun-ming (
annual poll
The annual survey, conducted at the request of the Ministry of Justice,was held from July 1 to July 5 and received 1,616 valid responses.
The poll results showed that respondents felt vote-buying had become a more serious problem, Chen told a news conference.
vote-buying
Chen said based on the results, 64.7 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the government's crackdown on vote-buying.
The ranking in terms of integrity for high-level government officials improved slightly in the survey from 18th place last year to 16th place.
Legislators ranked 20th this year in terms of integrity -- up from 21st place.
Chen said government officials in charge of construction projects and government procurement ranked 19th, while officials in charge of management of sand excavation ranked last.
Chen added that the public also appeared dissatisfied with the performance of government agencies charged with combating corruption.
The survey showed that 65.3 percent of respondents were in favor of the formation of an independent agency to deal with corruption.
financial disclosure
A total of 64 percent of respondents also thought that the policy whereby government officials are only fined but bear no criminal responsibility when their financial disclosure fails to pass examination was ineffective.
The survey also showed that 54 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the government's efforts to crack down on corruption in business.
TI is a global network of more than 90 chapters dedicated to fighting corruption. Its international secretariat is in Berlin.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
RSS