A majority of respondents in a public opinion poll released yesterday, said they had no confidence in President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) ability to promote “clean government” and were opposed to him serving concurrently as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman.The poll was conducted by Taiwan Indicate Survey Research (TISR) between Thursday and Friday.
Respondents expressed frustration over the recent corruption scandal involving former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世), who has been detained by prosecutors.
In the survey, 63.4 percent of respondents said they had no confidence in Ma’s ability to crack down on corrupt officials and establish a clean government, while only 26.8 percent said he could.
Meanwhile, 63.2 percent of respondents said they did not believe Ma would be able to combat corruption and transform the KMT into a clean political party during his tenure as chairman. That figure represented an increase from 20.1 percent in August 2005 and 51.7 percent in October 2009.
More than half — 57.5 percent — of respondents said Ma should not double as party chairman.
However, respondents also expressed a lack of confidence in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), with 29.9 percent saying both the KMT and the DPP lacked self-introspection when it came to corruption cases involving high-ranking officials, while 26.5 percent favored the DPP and 21.3 preferred the KMT.
In addition, 50.1 percent of those polled said that Premier Sean Chen (陳冲), Lin’s immediate superior, should not resign as a result of the scandal, while 32.2 percent said Chen should take responsibility and resign.
The poll collected 1,001 samples and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
‘IMPORTANT PARTNER’: The new guidelines aim to encourage US engagement with Taiwan, which reflects a deepening relationship, the US Department of State said The US Department of State on Friday issued new guidelines governing US officials’ interactions with their Taiwanese counterparts, a move welcomed by Taipei as turning a new page in bilateral relations. Shortly before leaving office, then-US secretary of state Mike Pompeo on Jan. 9 announced the cancelation of previous contact guidelines, which he said were “self-imposed restrictions” that attempted to appease the Chinese Communist Party regime in Beijing. However, the status of the guidelines has been unclear since US President Joe Biden entered the White House. Asked about the issue during a legislative session on Thursday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu
CONFIDENTIAL: The trip had not been made public until just before ex-senator Chris Dodd, and ex-state department officials Richard Armitage and James Steinberg arrived The government yesterday welcomed an “unofficial” delegation sent by US President Joe Biden, while another delegation led by US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry was headed to Shanghai. Biden’s first delegation to Taiwan is made up of former US senator Chris Dodd, and former US deputy secretaries of state Richard Armitage and James Steinberg. They are to stay in Taiwan until tomorrow. Their arrival, on a chartered flight, had been kept confidential until media reported the visit yesterday morning, after which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a short notice that they were expected to arrive at 2:40pm. The flight landed at
‘IDEAL FIT’: A report on Sunday said that the Canadian government threatened to pull its support and funding from the HFX if the award was given to the president The government would respect the decision of the organizer of the John McCain Prize for Leadership in Public Service on whether it plans to award a prize to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. The statement was issued after US Web site Politico reported a day earlier that the Canadian government had warned the Halifax International Security Forum (HFX) not to give the award to Tsai for fear of provoking Beijing. “The ministry believes that if the Halifax International Security Forum confers the prize upon President Tsai, it would be an affirmation and honor for both
EXTREME WEATHER: Due to climate change, there is greater ‘interannual variability,’ meaning Taiwan is experiencing dramatically drier and wetter years, an expert said Despite a “less than ideal” amount of rain this month, the nation’s manufacturers “remain unaffected” by this year’s drought, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said yesterday. “It’s true that the weather forecasts for April are not ideal, but by continuing current water restrictions in central Taiwan, there should be enough water until the plum rain season arrives,” Wang said. Taichung and Miaoli County have been on “red alert” since Tuesday last week, with weekly water supplies to households and businesses on for five days and off for two days. Large parts of Taichung’s Deji Reservoir (德基水庫) are nothing but mud due
RSS