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.
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