Although their stances on the independence-versus-unification issue remain generally unchanged, Taiwanese are increasingly concerned about President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) China policy, according to the latest survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC).
The survey was conducted by the National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center from Dec. 5 to Dec. 9 at the request of the council, which has for years monitored public opinion on the current pace of cross-strait exchanges and the independence-unification issue through telephone-based polls.
When asked whether they perceived the current pace of cross-strait exchanges to be too fast, too slow or moderate, a slight majority, or 37.1 percent, of respondents said the pace was just right, while 15.8 percent said it was “too slow.”
However, 36.3 percent of those polled — the highest percentage reported in three years — said the pace was “too rapid,” up about 8 percentage points from August last year.
Meanwhile, a steady decline has been seen in the percentage of respondents saying that the pace is moderate, which stood at about 40 percent in previous surveys.
Some observers have attributed the downward trend to the Ma administration’s perceived arbitrary approach in pushing for the passage of the highly controversial cross-strait service trade agreement it signed on June 21.
The pact, which is still pending approval by the legislature, has been described by opposition lawmakers as a “back-room deal” between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as only a handful of representatives of the 64 Taiwanese industries affected by the treaty were consulted in advance.
The Ma administration has repeatedly rejected calls from representatives of concerned Taiwanese workers to renegotiate the agreement with China.
Meanwhile, 56.8 percent of respondents said they considered China’s attitude toward Taiwan to be “unfriendly,” the second-highest rate recorded since Ma assumed office in May 2008, compared with only 26.6 percent who thought China was “friendly.”
As for cross-strait relations, only about 11 percent of respondents said they would prefer unification with China, including 2.3 percent who favored immediate unification and 8.3 percent who supported the so-called “status quo” now and unification later.
The mainstream public opinion still leaned toward “the status quo” and “no unification,” as a majority — or 33.7 percent — of respondents wanted to “retain the status quo now and decide either unification or independence later,” followed by those who preferred maintaining the “status quo” permanently (24.1 percent) and those who supported continuing the “status quo” at present and announcing independence in the future (18.5 percent).
About 7 percent of respondents favored immediate independence, while 6.1 percent said they had no opinion.
The survey collected 1,073 valid samples and had a margin of error of 2.99 percentage points.
Taiwan does not exclude the possibility of having formal diplomatic relations with countries that also have formal ties with China, regardless of Beijing’s stance, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Sunday. There was speculation in 2012 that Honduras was attempting to have simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taiwan and China, an idea that then-minister of foreign affairs David Lin (林永樂) rejected. Honduras severed formal ties with Taiwan on Sunday morning after establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing. President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has taken a more practical approach to relations with like-minded countries since assuming government in 2016. Previous administrations took the
Seven senior faculty members, including the principal, of a high school in Taichung were temporarily suspended from their jobs on Friday, pending an investigation by the Taichung Education Bureau into alleged bullying and abuse that led to the suicide of a student last month. The city’s education officials were too slow to suspend those involved, the student’s father told a news conference on Wednesday, at which Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and members of the Humanistic Education Foundation were also present. The boy had been a good student and a high achiever during elementary and junior-high, and had
ORIGIN UNKNOWN: The Leofoo Village Theme Park and Taipei Zoo have accounted for their baboons, as authorities continue a 12-day capture attempt Authorities in Taoyuan are searching for a non-native baboon, possibly of the chacma species, that has been spotted several times in the city’s Pingjhen District (平鎮) over the past 12 days, and was most recently seen in coastal Sinwu District (新屋). The baboon was first spotted near a local factory on March 10 in central Taoyuan, Jhensing Borough Warden Huang Chih-chieh (黃志杰) said. Huang said he requested the Leofoo Village Theme Park’s help after a second sighting on Saturday. In other sightings, the baboon raided fruit and vegetable gardens on private property, and has evaded one capture attempt via a tranquilizer dart. Media reported
Taiwan would have established formal relations with Argentina long ago if not for China’s interference, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui told US-based Spanish-language online news outlet Infobae in an interview published on Tuesday. Beijing has left behind a string of unfulfilled promises in Latin America, including pledges to build the Grand Nicaragua Canal and airports, docks, ports and industrial zones in El Salvador, he said. Meanwhile, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and other countries enjoy pragmatic and improving relations with Taiwan based on cooperation on the economy, culture, technology and science, he said. While Taiwan is “happy to live and let live,”