Surveys reflect Ma's popularity

• Source: The Global Times
• [00:42 May 20 2009]
• Comments

By Wang Anna

Ma Ying-jeou speaks at a press conference yesterday, the eve of his first anniversary as leader of Taiwan. Photo: CNS

Cross-Straits relations are the area in which the Kuomintang has made the most breakthroughs, Taiwan’s leader Ma Ying-jeou said yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference on the eve of the first anniversary of his taking office, Ma said every step in achieving the breakthroughs had been taken after careful and thorough deliberation, and that the pace of the process was acceptable, Taipei’s China News Agency reported.

In response to criticism from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of his cross-Straits policies, and speaking just two days after the DPP held a mass protest against him in Taipei, Ma said it would be impossible to return to the policies adopted by the DPP before he took office.

He also called on the DPP to be more rational in its suggestions on relations with the Chinese mainland, citing the example of Taiwan attending the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer.

“If Taiwan refused to attend the WHA simply because it has to use the name Chinese Taipei, it would not be rational,” Ma said.

“The DDP has its own political agenda in staging the protest, but the majority of Taiwan people can appreciate the efforts Ma has made to improve the economy,” Xiu Chunping, a professor with the Taiwan Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times yesterday.

“His policies toward the mainland also focus on economic cooperation,” he said.
In a poll by Taipei newspaper the United Times published yesterday, 56 percent of respondents said they approved of Ma, while 30 percent said they did not. An equivalent study conducted by the newspaper a month after Ma took office, put his approval rating at just 40 percent.

In a similar study by Taiwan’s China Times, also published yesterday, 52 percent of people said they approved of Ma – up from 36 percent a year ago – and 30 percent said they disapproved.

“The drop immediately after he took office was mainly because of the economic downturn,” Xiu said.

“In the past few months, the people of Taiwan have begun to see the economic benefits brought about by his policies, so it is only natural his approval rating has climbed back up.”