More than half of people disapprove of opposition lawmakers stalling review of the government’s proposed special defense budget, a poll found today.
Last month, President William Lai (賴清德) proposed a NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.63 billion) special defense budget to be spent over the next eight years.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) using their combined legislative majority have twice declined to schedule the bill for discussion.
Photo: Taipei Times
Today, KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) again said that the Procedure Committee when it meets tomorrow would not place the bill on the schedule the bill, saying the opposition would continue to refuse until Lai clearly explains the budget plan.
In a poll conducted by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation, 53.7 percent of respondents said they disapproved of the opposition parties blocking review of the budget, while 30.2 percent approved.
Even when controlling for age or education level, the majority of people in each group disapproved of the opposition’s decision, the foundation said.
The results convey a clear message that a significant majority of Taiwanese are concerned about the Chinese military threat and are unhappy that the budget is not being discussed in the legislature, it said.
Among KMT supporters, 52 percent approved of the move, while 33 percent disapproved, it said.
Among TPP supporters, 59 percent approved while 29 percent disapproved, showing that even among supporters of the opposition, about 30 percent would like to see the special defense budget be discussed, the foundation said.
Meanwhile, 57.6 percent of respondents said they appreciated Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last month that an attack on Taiwan may constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, which has sparked an ongoing diplomatic spat with Beijing, the poll found.
By contrast, only 15.8 percent said they did not appreciate the comment.
However, people were divided in their response by party affiliation, with most Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and TPP supporters saying they appreciated Takaichi’s comment, while most KMT supporters were negative or ambivalent.
In the poll, 89 percent of DPP supporters and 42 percent of TPP supporters appreciated her comments to only 0.7 percent and 24 percent respectively who did not.
However, 33 percent of KMT supporters appreciated the comments, compared with 34 percent who did not.
Among neutral voters, the figures were 39 percent to 20 percent respectively.
The survey was conducted from Monday to Wednesday last week, collecting 1,077 valid responses from adults aged 20 or over.
About 70 percent were over landline, while the remainder responded over mobile phone.
It had a margin of error of 2.99 percentage points and confidence level of 95 percent, weighted based on the latest government population data.
Additional reporting by Lin Hsin-han
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