President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could face “the public’s punishment” in the seven-in-one elections at the end of next year, as more than 60 percent of respondents in an opinion poll released yesterday said they intended to “punish Ma with their ballots.”
In a survey conducted by Taiwan Thinktank, 62.6 percent of respondents said they would use the elections to voice their opposition to the president’s poor performance.
Only 26.5 percent of those polled disagreed with the idea, while 10.9 percent declined to comment.
Meanwhile, a majority of the respondents expressed concerns about the cross-strait service trade agreement, with 85.5 percent saying that they knew nothing about the pact and 61.6 percent worrying about the potential impact to the local service sector.
A total of 70.9 percent of the respondents said they worried that their jobs would be affected by the agreement and 68.9 percent said the pact placed the interests of large corporations above those of smaller businesses, the survey showed.
Forty-four percent to 32 percent said that the trade agreements Ma signed with Beijing since taking office have had more negative impacts than positive ones.
The perceived failure of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) “could be why people were unsure of the service trade agreement without knowing much about it,” former National Taiwan University professor Chen Po-chih (陳博志) said.
The poll also found that 78.9 percent of respondents did not believe the government’s pledge that 80 percent of small businesses owners would not be affected by the scheduled electricity rate hike next month.
A price increase before a comprehensive reform of the state-owned Taiwan Power Co (台電) was unreasonable, 76 percent of the respondents said, with only 15.2 percent viewing the price rise acceptable.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
ONE LAST TALK: While Xi said that Taiwan was a ‘red line,’ Biden, in what is likely his last meeting with Xi as president, called for an end to China’s military activity around Taiwan China’s military intimidation and economic coercion against Taiwan are the main causes of tensions that are destabilizing peace in the Taiwan Strait, Taipei said yesterday while thanking US President Joe Biden for expressing Washington’s firm stance of maintaining peace and stability in the region. Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met on Saturday for their third meeting and their first talks in seven months on the sidelines of the APEC forum in Lima, Peru. It was likely Biden’s last meeting as president with Xi. During their conversation, Biden reiterated the US’ opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” from either
Taiwan would participate in the 2026 APEC summit to be hosted by China after Beijing promised it would ensure the personal safety of attendees, Taiwanese national security sources said yesterday. The APEC Leaders’ Machu Picchu Declaration announced yesterday said that China would host the APEC summit in 2026. Beijing proposed hosting the summit shortly before this year’s gathering began on Friday, a national security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Many APEC members expressed concerns about China hosting the event and said that prior communication over the decision was insufficient, the official said. Taiwan brought up concerns about legal “guidelines” China announced in
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