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
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS