Nearly three-quarters of respondents in a poll by the Democratic Progressive Party support the student protesters’ demands for a renegotiation of the cross-strait service trade agreement, and more than half said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should take responsibility for the current turmoil.
The survey, conducted on Tuesday, found that 71.6 percent of respondents supported the students, who have been occupying the legislative floor since March 18 and demanding that the controversial agreement be shelved and negotiations with China be restarted.
Asked who or what insitution should bear responsibility for the turmoil, 58 percent said it was Ma, while the government and protesting students tied at a very distant second place with 3.8 percent each.
Those who thought that Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), the Legislative Yuan, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, DPP lawmakers or Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) should be held responsible ranged between 1.2 and 2.9 percent.
“It’s unusual to see such a lopsided result in a survey on social issues. The results clearly show mainstream public opinion on the issue,” DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) told a press conference.
Public opinion on another key issue — the government’s handling of the eviction of protesters at the Executive Yuan on Monday — was also clear, with 83.3 percent saying that they were not happy with the police crackdown.
Meanwhile, 61.5 percent of respondents said the government should make concessions to the students, with only 18.2 percent saying the opposite and 20.2 percent not giving an answer.
Although support for the students’ occupation of the legislative floor was not as lopsided, there were still 55.6 percent who agreed with the action, while 37.2 percent disagreed and 7.2 percent gave no answer.
The student movement may also have been successful in raising public awareness, with 67 percent of respondents saying they know more about the service trade pact now than before.
The survey also found that 69 percent of respondents said that the student movement would have a positive impact on the nation’s future development.
The survey collected 916 valid samples and had a margin of error of 3.31 percentage points.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but