Approval ratings for three Cabinet officials in charge of economic affairs failed to reach double digits and more than 40 percent of respondents said they should be removed from office, a public opinion poll showed yesterday.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-hsiang (施顏祥) received an approval rate of just 9 percent, but that was still higher than Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford’s (張盛和) 7.9 percent and Council for Economic Planning and Development Minister Yiing Chii-ming’s (尹啟銘) 6 percent, according to a survey conducted by the Taiwan Indicators Research Survey.
The three officials’ disapproval ratings ranged between 29 percent and 37.7 percent, with respondents who said that they were unaware of anything the officials had done exceeding 44 percent for all three.
Among those who polled, 41.5 percent said the officials should be replaced, while 38.9 percent said they should keep their jobs.
Asked who deserved to be replaced the most, 34.4 percent of respondents chose Shih, with Yiin at 22.7 percent and Chang at 14.3 percent.
Eleven percent of respondents said all three should be removed.
On a scale of 1 to 100, respondents gave President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his administration a year-end score of 46.6 points.
A further breakdown saw Ma averaging 38.3 points among pan-green supporters, 42.9 points among independent voters and 58.6 points among pan-blue supporters.
The survey was conducted between Thursday and Friday and collected 1,017 valid samples with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
Tainan City Councilor Lu Kun-fu (盧崑福) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday sparked further controversy when he echoed remarks by KMT caucus whip Alex Fai (費鴻泰) that Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) should be executed for an increase in domestic COVID-19 cases. Chen heads the Central Epidemic Command Center. Lu at a question-and-answer session at the Tainan City Council said that a lapse in disease prevention measures at China Airlines, which has led to a cluster infection, could have been controlled. However, as the airline’s pilots were allowed a shortened quarantine period of three days and were placed
SUFFICIENT SUPPLY: Taiwan has an abundance of pandemic-related goods in storage, and protocols have been implemented to ensure that the supply chain is not broken Hordes of customers descended on hypermarkets and supermarkets in Taipei and New Taipei City after the government yesterday raised the COVID-19 alert level for the two municipalities to level 3 until May 28. Earlier in the day, the Central Epidemic Command Center reported 180 new domestically transmitted cases, most of them in Taipei and New Taipei City. Despite the government urging the public to stop hoarding daily necessities, shelves were stripped bare while cashiers were working as fast as they could. Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) at a news conference on Friday detailed the government’s inventory of masks, medical-grade isopropyl alcohol and protective clothing,
EYES AND EARS: The navy has commissioned the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology to manufacture radars to upgrade the nation’s naval monitoring stations A military enthusiast yesterday posted photographs of Taiwanese F-16 jets taking off from Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu with two refueling aircraft, presumably returning to Taiwan from the US for upgrades. Asked about the matter, the Ministry of National Defense declined to comment. The jets had been part of training at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona and had briefly landed in Honolulu, where the photographer, Aeros808, had spotted them, a source said. The jets did not land in Guam, which had been done in 1996 when the US Air Force delivered F-16s to Taiwan, the source said, adding that the
‘STAY CALM’: The nation has more than 800 million masks in stock and can produce up to 40 million a day, while hand sanitizer stocks are also sufficient The nation has an ample supply of masks to meet demand amid concerns over an increase in the number of domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Tuesday. Taiwan has more than 800 million masks in stock, with daily production of 18.3 million units on average and maximum daily capacity of 40 million units, the ministry said on Facebook. The ministry’s assurance came after Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), on Monday said that the nation has entered the community transmission stage after several new domestic
RSS