Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday said they doubted the authenticity of a poll released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) that showed high public support for signing an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) told a press conference the MAC had employed the Berkeley polling company to conduct surveys related to cross-strait affairs and that the poll found that 70 percent of the public supported the ECFA proposal, much higher than polls released by various news media and other bureaus.
She also said the Executive Yuan’s Research, Development and Evaluation Commission and Berkeley had both conducted earlier polls in November on the results of the second round of cross-strait negotiations between the Straits Exchange Foundation and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, and that while the commission’s survey showed 67 percent of the public was satisfied with the results of the talks, Berkeley’s survey showed an 80 percent approval rate.
She said the support rates in the two polls were about double the figures other agencies came up with.
Kuan said Berkeley used loaded questions in the survey, such as: “The second round of cross-strait talks established direct cross-strait charter flights, which save time and money for people traveling to China; are you satisfied with the result?”
DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said Berkeley does business in China and the government should not employ a company with Chinese interests to conduct its surveys.
In response, MAC Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said yesterday the council has been conducting polls on cross-strait issues for several years in which different polling companies took turns carrying out the surveys. If the polls were biased, there would have already been complaints, he said.
At a separate setting, Taiwan Solidarity Union Secretary-General Lin Jih-jia (林志嘉) released a poll conducted by the party saying that 59.7 percent of respondents agreed an ECFA should be approved by a referendum, while 73.7 percent supported an inter-party legislative task force to monitor the government’s cross-strait policies and interactions with China.
Lin said his party believed important cross-strait agreements should be passed by referendum.
Lin said the survey was conducted between last Thursday and Sunday. A total of 1,067 valid samples were collected in the survey.
Meanwhile, the Control Yuan yesterday asked the Executive Yuan to submit a written statement within two weeks on the effectiveness of the “small three links” that allows limited transportation between the country’s outlying islands and cities in southern China.
Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi (廖了以), Cabinet Secretary-General Hsueh Hsiang-chuan (薛香川), Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) and others were invited to answer questions from Control Yuan members yesterday.
The request came after the Control Yuan said the Cabinet had failed to make improvements in the policy since the Control Yuan asked it to take corrective measures against the Cabinet over the matter in 2005.
Control Yuan member Chien Lin Whei-jun (錢林慧君) said that the Control Yuan would determine whether to close the case or initiate another investigation after reviewing the Cabinet’s report.
Problems found by the Control Yuan were delays in the construction of the Kinmen Airport expansion project and alleged scandals involving the construction of two docks for the links.
“The poor executive performance of the government delayed the Kinmen Airport expansion project by six years,” Chien Lin said, adding that even the first stages of the project hadn’t been completed.
Construction of the docks was delayed because of scandals involving alleged graft, she said.
Control Yuan member Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏) asked the Cabinet to include the potential impact of the changes in its report.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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