The public is largely satisfied with President Chen Shui-bian's (
The poll was conducted by the Foundation on International & Cross-strait Studies, a private think tank, immediately after Chen returned to Taiwan on Nov. 6.
Sixty-three percent of those interviewed said they were satisfied with Chen's performance during the trip and 61 percent of them said Taiwan-US ties have improved since Chen's visit.
The poll also showed that 65 percent believed Chen's trip has enhanced Taiwan's international image as a democratic, liberal country highly respecting human rights.
Commentators, however, had mixed interpretations of the poll results.
"Chen's foreign trip is not about diplomacy. It's about boosting his popularity at home," said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Kwan Yuk-noan (
"Chen had achieved nothing spectacular apart from shaking hands with US Secretary of State Colin Powell. His visit didn't even receive coverage from prestigious newspapers such as The New York Times," Kwan said.
Expressing unhappiness about what he called a flawed poll, Kwan said the think tank's questionnaire was not designed properly.
Chen's seven-day trip to Panama, with stopovers in New York and Alaska, received widespread domestic media coverage. The apparent relaxation in the rules of transit by the US had given Chen more freedom to get his message across.
Chen, who was honored with an award from the New York-based International League for Human Rights, delivered a 35-minute speech during the ceremony -- a lengthy public performance for a politically sensitive figure such as Chen.
The US also permitted the local media to cover Chen's activities, a gesture politicians here hailed as a major breakthrough in the Taiwan-US relationship. During his last visit to the US, Chen was prohibited from crossing a street to meet his supporters.
DPP Legislator Lee Wen-chung (
Lee Wen-chung recalled former president Lee Teng-hui's (
Chen's approval rating has risen since the trip.
"The trip has a good effect on next year's presidential election," said Lee Wen-chung, "but we need to carefully observe whether the effect is a long-term or short-term one."
Chang Rong-kung (張榮恭), head of the KMT's mainland affairs department, said Chen's diplomatic breakthroughs are not necessarily the result of improved ties between Taiwan and the US.
It could be another evidence of the deepening China-US ties, Chang said.
"As the US-China relationship is on such good terms, China has felt it safe to let the US relax restrictions on Chen's New York transit," he said.
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
RSS