The majority of Taiwanese support the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) new policy platform that aims to end cross-strait hostility through a peace accord, despite it sparking heated debates within the party, the results of KMT surveys released yesterday showed.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said a survey conducted by a private polling center at the KMT’s behest on Aug. 28 and Aug. 29 found that 51.5 percent of the 1,078 respondents supported the KMT’s new policy platform, while 20.2 percent did not.
“They were asked whether they think the KMT should put forward a ‘peace-centered policy platform,’ one that endeavors to further the [so-called] ‘1992 consensus’ based on the foundation of the Republic of China [ROC] Constitution and actively explore the possibility of putting an end to cross-strait hostility through a peace accord,” Hung told a news conference at the KMT headquarters in Taipei.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Hung said another telephone-based poll carried out from Oct. 21 to Tuesday last week that queried more than 600,000 Taiwanese also yielded a similar result.
About 51.7 percent of the respondents in this month’s survey voiced support for the KMT’s endeavors to find a “way out” for Taiwan amid damage caused to the nation’s trade and tourism industry by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) “isolationism and anti-China policy,” and to promote the party’s new policy platform of peaceful cross-strait exchanges, Hung said.
The KMT’s new policy platform, approved by the party’s national congress on Sept. 4, has been a topic of heated debate within the KMT, as it mentions the “different interpretations” component of the “1992 consensus” only once and omits what the pan-blue camp has considered an integral element in the political framework in following sentences.
Critics have said that the new platform is an attempt by KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) to move the KMT closer to the concept of “one China, same interpretation.”
The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and Beijing that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means. Former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 said he had made up the term in 2000.
Citing another survey conducted earlier this month among 1,068 respondents, Hung Meng-kai said that 45.9 percent of those polled believed that the KMT should continue exchanges and communication with Beijing for the sake of peaceful cross-strait development and people’s livelihood, compared with 34 percent who disagreed.
“These figures suggest that the KMT’s peace-centered policy platform, which was proposed to counter the DPP’s independence guidelines, conform to mainstream public opinion and is recognized by most Taiwanese,” he said.
OFFLINE: People who do not wish to register can get the money from select ATMs using their bank card, ID number and National Health Insurance card number Online registration for NT$6,000 (US$196.32) cash payments drawn from last year’s tax surplus is to open today for eligible people whose national ID or permanent residency number ends in either a zero or a one, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. Officials from the ministry revealed which days Taiwanese and eligible foreigners would be able to register for the cash payments at a joint news conference with the Ministry of Digital Affairs. Online registration is to open tomorrow for those whose number ends in a two or three; on Friday for those that end in a four or five: on Saturday
TECH PROGRAM: A US official said that an important part of the delegation’s trip would be to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co executives The US is to send officials in charge of chip development to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to promote cooperation in the global semiconductor supply chain, the US Department of Commerce said on Tuesday. Chips Program Office Director Michael Schmidt announced the visit, which marks the first time officials from the office are to visit the three nations since it was set up in September last year. “As semiconductors and technologies continue to evolve, the United States will keep working with allies and partners to develop coordinated strategies to ensure that malign actors cannot use the latest technologies to undermine our collective
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) officials are investigating why a Starlux Airlines flight to Penang, Malaysia, returned to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport nearly two hours after takeoff yesterday morning. The airline said in a statement that Flight JX721 to Penang took off from Taoyuan airport at 9:20am. “After the dashboard showed a signal of an abnormality in the hydraulic system, the captain followed standard operating procedures and returned the flight to Taoyuan airport for safety precautions,” the airline said, adding that the flight landed safely at the airport at 11:04am. The airline arranged for the passengers to have lunch after the flight landed and
WORKING UP AN APPETITE: Sales at the Rueifong Night Market surged 20 to 30 percent, while seats at Liouhe Night Market were packed until 1am, market officials said South Korean pop band Blackpink’s concerts over the weekend in Kaohsiung helped draw large crowds to local night markets, the Kaohsiung City Government said yesterday. The two concerts on Saturday and Sunday at Kaohsiung National Stadium drew more than 90,000 people. The city government offered NT$50 vouchers to spend locally to concertgoers who showed their ticket stubs. Liouhe Night Market (六合夜市) management committee head Chuang Chi-chang (莊其章) said that crowds over the weekend surged at about 10pm and the market remained packed until 1:30am. “Almost all the seats were filled,” Chuang said. Night market stall owners had stocked up in expectation of an increased number
RSS