The survey showed that 62.5 percent of respondents agreed that “the December [5] election results showed that many people in Taiwan still have doubts about an EFCA plan and thus the [President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)] administration should put off signing the deal with China and rather seek consensus within the country.”
Even among Pan-Blues, they are almost evenly split on this issue, showing a great rift within the Pan-Blues. What it shows is that there is no consensus on passing an ECFA.
On the question, among those who identified themselves as supporters of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-led pan-blue camp, 46.3 percent agreed and 43.4 percent disagreed, while among those who said they have no party affiliation, 56.1 percent agreed and 26.8 percent disagreed.President Ma needs to take a step back and re-evaluate. There is mounting evidence that the course that Ma is paving is not what Taiwanese are looking for. When you consider the numbers for "independents/non-party affiliates" that show a majority disapprove of ECFA and of Ma's performance thus far, adding in the obvious disapproval from the Pan-Green side, and finally the evenly split approval/disapproval of Ma by the Pan-Blues, it should be clear that Ma Ying-Jeou is not on the same page as the rest of Taiwan.
As the article mentions, it is likely Ma is doing this, all the while knowing the non-approval of ECFA and his actions, in order to put the China-Taiwan issue on the fast track. This track is likely being orchestrated by Beijing in order to "lock-down" Taiwan into a bind where it cannot be independent from China- whether it be economically, politically, socially.
About 30 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with the government’s performance since Ma took office, while 65.6 percent said they were dissatisfied.
Ma’s disapproval rating among non-party affiliated respondents was 66.9 percent, while his approval rating was 23.5 percent.
Among pro-pan blue camp supporters, his disapproval rating and approval rating were 44.6 percent and 54 percent respectively.
Asked whether they worried about the future of Taiwan under Ma’s leadership, 50.2 percent of non-party affiliated respondents said “Yes,” while 45.3 percent said “No.”
The result was nearly identical for all respondents — with 51.8 percent saying “Yes” and 46 percent saying “No.”
Both sides would like improved relations with China, but what Ma is doing is simply giving away Taiwan without regard for Taiwan's sovereignty and self-dignity. Exactly what has Ma helped gain for Taiwan? I would say absolutely nothing. What he thinks he has done is promoted Taiwan in the international arena, but in fact he has promoted a "Chinese Taipei" that is continually being regarded as a Province of China.
In other news, a lot of chitter chatter about Tsai Ing-wen possibly running for positions in next year's county/city elections, in a run-up towards the 2012 presidential elections. In my very honest opinion, Tsai should focus on continuing to unify and solidify the DPP as the Chairwoman. A lot of other problems start to arise when you have the situation of the party chairwoman/chairman holding high public positions (as Ma Ying-jeou has done).
And you may say, well why not have her run, and put in a new chairman? The problem I see is, why mess with something that isn't broke? She has proven thus far to be putting the DPP on the right track for contention in next year and 2012 elections. Removing her and possibly putting back in some DPP "old guard" may setback the vision of a rebuilding DPP. What the party needs is fresh, young, politicians that can think outside of the box.
As far as 2012 presidential elections, I still believe Hsieh Chang-ting should be the DPP's best candidate. He has a great grassroots following going on via Plurk. Claudia Jean mentioned his Plurk-ing back in April when he first started.
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