A clause-by-clause review of the cross-strait service trade pact was supported by a majority of respondents in a poll released yesterday, and almost half said the pact would pose a significant national security threat if passed.
Asked how they viewed the service trade pact — which is awaiting legislative review before taking effect — 73.7 percent said they supported a line-by-line review, while 10.2 percent said the deal should be put to a vote as a package and 16.1 percent did not give an opinion in the survey conducted by Taiwan Indicator Survey Research (TISR)
Overall, 44.5 percent of the respondents said they did not support the trade pact, with 32.8 percent supportive and 22.9 percent not giving an answer.
Respondents expressed greater concern toward the deal’s impact on national security and sovereignty, with 50 percent saying it would pose more disadvantages than advantages in those areas.
Opinions about the economic impacts were mixed, as 32.7 percent of the respondents said economic advantages would outweigh the disadvantages, while 25.8 percent had the opposite view. A further 4.9 percent said the disadvantages and advantages were about equal and 26.6 percent declined to answer.
On the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao (貢寮), New Taipei City, 59.4 percent supported at least a temporary suspension of construction, up 1.4 percent from a similar poll in March last year.
Of the respondents, 33.2 percent called for a permanent suspension. A further 17.4 percent said construction should be temporarily suspended until the plant passes safety checks and 8.8 percent said the suspension should remain until the decision of a national referendum.
Less than a quarter, or 23.4 percent, supported completing the construction, including 21 percent who said that the plant should be in operation. A further 2.4 percent said it should be completed, but not put into operation.
The survey also put President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) latest approval rating at 14.3 percent, with a disapproval rating of 74.9 percent.
Meanwhile, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) received almost the lowest support rate since he assumed the position in February last year, with an approval rate of 15.3 percent, only 0.2 percentage points higher than his lowest record in September last year.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
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