As the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is expected to replace its presidential candidate, Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) — possibly with KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) — at an extraordinary party congress tomorrow, results of a survey show that the change might bring the party an increase in support.
With the election less than 100 days away, a Taiwan Indicators Survey Research (TISR) opinion poll showed that although Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would still lead if Chu replaces Hung, the margin would shrink from 31 percent to 23 percent.
If Hung remains the KMT nominee, Tsai would have 46.8 percent support, while Hung would have 16.5 percent and People First Party presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) would have 13.5 percent, the results showed.
However, if Chu replaces Hung 44.6 percent of respondents said they would still support Tsai, while Chu would receive 21 percent support and Soong 12 percent.
Despite Chu’s advantage over Hung in the poll, respondents indicated a lack of confidence over his ability to push reform in the KMT.
The survey showed that 29.6 percent of respondents said they believe Chu is capable of pushing reforms, while 51.3 percent said they did not believe he is.
When asked whether Tsai would handle cross-strait relationships according to the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution, 42 percent of respondents said that she would, while 41.2 percent said she would not.
When asked about the future of the cross-strait relationship, 60 percent supported a policy of Taiwan and China as separate nations or exchanges according to the Constitution, while 27.4 percent said they backed President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) support of the so-called “1992 consensus.”
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
The survey was conducted by telephone on Monday and Tuesday, collecting 1,003 valid samples.
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
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