The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) polling center yesterday said that more than 60 percent of Taiwanese think there has been a lack of transparency during talks between China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) and Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤), despite President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) call for transparency in cross-strait talks.
More than half of the respondents in the poll said cross-strait agreements on certification and standardization of merchandise would have a negative impact on Taiwan.
Nearly 70 percent supported DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) call to Ma to promise that Taiwan would sign free trade agreements (FTAs) with other countries after signing an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
Dividing respondents into supporters of the pan-green and pan-blue camps, results indicated that 81.3 percent of pan-green-camp supporters agreed with Tsai’s call, while 65.9 percent of pan-blue supporters also agreed.
“This shows that no matter what their political stance is, everyone thinks Ma should promise that Taiwan would be able to sign FTAs with other countries after signing an ECFA with China,” the DPP statement said.
Also, 71.1 percent of respondents said China was the biggest obstacle to Taiwan’s attempt to sign FTAs with other countries.
The poll was conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday and collected 914 valid samples.
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
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Three people have had their citizenship revoked after authorities confirmed that they hold Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday. Two of the three people were featured in a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics by YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) and Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), including Su Shi-en (蘇士恩), who displayed a Chinese ID card in the video, and taekwondo athlete Lee Tung-hsien (李東憲), who mentioned he had obtained a Chinese ID card in a telephone call with Chen, Liang told the council’s weekly news conference. Lee, who reportedly worked in
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