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.
BAIL APPEALS: The former vice premier was ordered to be held incommunicado despite twice being granted bail and paying a total of NT$12 million in bond The Taoyuan District Court yesterday ordered the detention of former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who is being investigated for alleged corruption while serving as Taoyuan mayor from December 2014 to December 2022, and that he be held incommunicado. The court made the ruling during a bail hearing after prosecutors appealed its bail ruling twice. Cheng on Saturday was released after posting bail of NT$5 million (US$153,818). However, after prosecutors lodged an appeal, the High Court on Monday revoked the original ruling and ordered the Taoyuan District Court to hold another bail hearing. On Tuesday, the district court granted bail to Cheng a second
The Thai government on Friday announced that Taiwanese would be allowed to stay in the country for up to 60 days per entry, under the Southeast Asian country’s visa-free program starting from today. Taiwan is among 93 countries included in the Thai visa-waiver program, which has been expanded from 57 countries, with the visa-exempt entry extended from 30 to 60 days. After taking office last year, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has vowed to grant more visa waivers to foreign travelers as part of efforts to stimulate tourism. The expanded visa-waiver program was on Friday signed by Thai Minister of the Interior Anutin
PEACE AND SECURITY: China’s military ambitions present ‘the greatest strategic challenge to Japan and the world, Japan’s annual defense white paper said yesterday Japan yesterday warned that China risked escalating tensions with Taiwan with an increase in military exercises that appeared aimed in part at readying Beijing’s forces for a possible invasion. Japan’s annual assessment of security threats, including those posed by China, North Korea and Russia, comes as Taiwan closely monitors Chinese People’s Liberation Army air and sea exercises, including one with the Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. The drills are the latest in a series including maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait last year that a senior US general said would be key to any invasion. “Because of that increase in military activity,
HAN KUANG: The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers said The armed forces would for the first time test new rules of engagement (ROE) at this month’s annual Han Kuang exercises, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers told a news conference in Taipei. ROE cards would be issued to select combat troops to test their ability to function without tight control, they said. The most recent edition of the rules was published last year, they said. One of the cards’ two templates identifies enemy targets that soldiers