While 47.3 percent of the public think cross-strait exchanges over the past three years have not negatively impacted Taiwan’s sovereignty, 40 percent believe that there has been a severe erosion of sovereignty following the cross-strait exchanges initiated by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration since 2008, according to a survey released by the Taiwan Brain Trust yesterday.
Think tank chief executive Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said that the survey was conducted on Friday and Saturday last week, before the recent revelation of an internal WHO memo dated September last year that showed the body instructed members to refer to Taiwan as a “Province of China.”
The percentage of people believing Taiwan’s sovereignty has been eroded as a result of cross-strait exchanges could very well be higher if a new survey asking the same questions was conducted now, Lo added.
Former representative to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) told a press conference held by the think tank that since Ma assumed the presidency in May 2008, the -government’s foreign affairs policies and even domestic matters had come to depend on Beijing’s “help and good will.”
However, the truth of the matter is that Beijing is not friendly to Taiwan at all and its Taiwan policies are designed to weaken Taiwan’s international standing and threaten Taiwan with its military power, Wu said, adding that there are increasing signs that the international community is starting to believe that Taiwan considers China to be its patron.
The poll, coming just days before the Ma administration marks three years in power, indicated that Ma’s approval rate stood at 40.2 percent, while his disapproval rate remained at 48.3 percent.
It also showed that 41.7 percent agreed that Ma had broken many of his campaign promises made three years ago, though 37.4 percent disagreed.
While 16.8 percent of respondents said their personal economic situation had improved over the past three years, 49.9 percent said there had been no change and 30.5 percent said that their financial situation had grown worse.
In addition, 78.6 percent said they believed the growing gap between the nation’s rich and poor was a serious issue, while 13.9 percent said it was not serious.
Meanwhile, approval of the Cabinet’s performance was 35.5 percent, with a disapproval rate of 50.9 percent, the poll showed.
The poll collected 1,078 samples and had a margin of error of 2.98 percent.
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military