President William Lai (賴清德) failed his first-year performance review, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-affiliated think tank said yesterday, citing its survey on the eve of Lai’s inauguration anniversary today.
Lai scored 51.2 points and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) scored 51.4 points in their first year in office, the National Policy Foundation said.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said at a news conference the foundation held that the past year was “a year of national misfortune and people’s distress,” as the nation was dragged into turmoil and the cross-strait tension escalated.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Political infighting has been rampant, as the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) “abused” the judicial system to persecute members of opposition parties and create “green terror,” he said.
“Green terror” refers to the DPP’s color and judicial investigations against members of the opposition parties, likening the investigations to the White Terror era, when then-KMT government oppressed domestic dissent.
Referring to Lai’s resent analogy of cross-strait relations as “a small company [Taiwan]” and “a big company [China],” Chu criticized Lai for replacing cross-strait “unification” with “mergers and acquisitions.”
“So, framing it as ‘hostile mergers’ is not illegal, but calling it ‘forceful unification’ deserves to be expelled,” he said, adding that Lai’s analogy is tantamount to suggesting that he would “sell Taiwan’s sovereignty” once he “gets a good deal.”
Chu added that he was surprised to hear that Lai said he had made efforts over the past year to facilitate communications between the governing and opposition parties, but failed.
“We [the KMT] have been saying many times how we have been waiting for his phone calls, and for him to start a dialogue between the governing and opposition parties,” he said. “All we got after the long wait was confrontation. The door was shut, and there was no opportunity to communicate, but a mass recall to eradicate opposition parties.”
Lai has been extremely incompetent in external affairs, he said, adding that Lai “gave away” Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) business to the US even before the tariff war started.
Chu also cited US President Donald Trump’s adviser David Sacks as saying that Washington would consider allowing TSMC to set up a new plant in the United Arab Emirates.
“So, Lai has decided to relinquish the decisionmaking power over TSMC to the US,” Chu said, adding that TSMC has become “USMC.”
Taiwanese elected the president to prioritize the nation’s interests and make it thrive, but all Lai did was to surrender and butter up Washington, Chu added.
KMT Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩), who heads the foundation, said the survey showed that 28.5 percent approved the government’s efforts to combat scams while 44.8 percent disapproved.
The survey showed 53.8 percent were dissatisfied with judicial justice while 21.6 percent said it has improved.
The survey showed 44.5 percent were dissatisfied with the government’s performance on the economy, while 18.8 percent said it improved.
On Taiwan-US relations, 37.2 percent said they were dissatisfied, and 32.2 percent were satisfied; 53.8 percent disapproved of the government’s handling of cross-strait relations, while 9.2 percent said it has improved.
When asked whether they are concerned about a possible cross-strait conflict, 50.3 percent said they are concerned and 45.1 percent said they are not, the survey showed.
According to the survey, 41.7 percent said Cho should be replaced, while 35.2 percent disagreed.
Asked whether a Cabinet reshuffle is required, 49.4 percent of respondents agreed and 29.2 percent disagreed, the survey showed.
The survey, conducted from 6pm to 9:30pm from Tuesday to Thursday last week, surveyed 1,069 people aged 20 or older nationwide by phone and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
The KMT yesterday afternoon also held a protest gathering vehicles in front of the DPP headquarters in Taipei.
Vehicles blew their horns at 5:20pm, referring to the date Lai took office, demanding that he step down.
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