The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday attributed President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) approval rating dips to what it said were her administration’s disregard of the public and thirst for greater political gains.
Speaking at a news conference at the KMT headquarters yesterday morning, KMT Culture and Communications Committee Deputy Director-General Tang Te-ming (唐德明) said the Tsai administration is like a dish of seemingly delicious vegetables that has gradually gone bad due to the presence of “corrupting bacteria.”
Tang said the government does not seem to have the public interest in mind and appears fixated on obtaining greater political gains and taking down the KMT.
“The DPP attaches little importance to national interests and fawns over Japan and the US at the expense of the nation’s sovereignty and fishing rights,” Tang said.
Tang said that the Tsai administration practices nepotism, citing as an example allegations that state-owned China Airlines’ (CAL) personnel reshuffle was based on a list of candidates provided by DPP headquarters.
The news conference came one day after Taiwan Indicators Survey Research published an opinion poll that showed Tsai’s approval ratings dropped below 50 percent for the first time since she was sworn in on May 20.
The percentage of people who expressed dissatisfaction over Tsai’s performance surged from 16.3 percent in May to nearly 40 percent in the research center’s latest survey.
In addition, the poll showed that Premier Lin Chuan’s (林全) disapproval rating surpassed his approval rating for the first time, at 40.4 percent and 37.3 percent respectively. Lin’s disapproval rating in the May survey was 17.4 percent.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director-general Hu Wen-chi (胡文琦) accused Tsai of being an opportunistic leader who has sought to please everyone and solved no real problems.
“From the comfort women issue, the problem of the government being entangled with the ruling party and the suspension of cross-strait communications to the nation’s sovereignty claims over Taiping Island [Itu Aba Island, 太平島], the stalled Taiwan-Japan fisheries negotiation and people’s unsatisfactory level of livelihood, Tsai has addressed none of these issues,” Hu said.
Hu said that Tsai’s failure to fix problems is precisely why voters are starting to count down her days in office when it is only three months into her four-year presidential term.
Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷), another committee deputy director-general, said that the Tsai administration has a tendency to flip-flop on major social issues and to bow to pressure.
“For instance, Tsai backed down on her nominations of Judicial Yuan president and vice president amid mounting public criticism... This shows that only those in charge know how difficult it is to be in charge,” Hung said.
On Saturday, Tsai approved Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission Chief Commissioner Hsieh Wen-ting’s (謝文定) and Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lin Chin-fang’s (林錦芳) withdrawal of their nominations as Judicial Yuan president and vice president respectively.
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