Ma-Xi meeting receives mixed public response

2015/11/10

The historic meeting between ROC President Ma Ying-jeou and mainland Chinese leader Xi Jinping Nov. 7 in Singapore has been met with a mixed response from the public in Taiwan, according to a survey released Nov. 9 by local paper United Daily News.

Approximately 37.1 percent of respondents in the UDN poll approved of President Ma’s performance in the meeting, ahead of 33.8 percent who said they were dissatisfied and 23.3 percent who said they had no opinion.

When asked whether Ma should report to the Legislature on his talks with Xi, 52.9 percent of the respondents agreed, while 21 percent disagreed and 20.4 percent said they did not know.

Meanwhile, concerning which of the three candidates in Taiwan’s 2016 presidential election are most capable of maintaining stable cross-strait relations, the ruling Kuomintang’s Eric Chu received the most public support at 28.2 percent.

Chu was trailed by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party’s Tsai Ing-wen at 22.3 percent and People First Party’s James Soong at 19.2 percent.

In the event of the DPP chairwoman winning the January election, 67 percent are in favor of a potential meeting between Tsai and her mainland Chinese counterpart. Respondents who oppose this idea account for 8.6 percent, and those who remain ambivalent 19.1 percent.

Generally, the UDN survey finds most people—nearly 44.8 percent—do not expect to see significant changes in cross-strait ties as a result of the Ma-Xi meeting. Approximately 28 percent expect bilateral exchanges to strengthen going forward, while only 7.7 percent are pessimistic about the future development of relations.

The nationwide poll was conducted Nov. 8 via telephone interviews and received valid responses from 832 individuals aged 20 and above. It has a 95 percent confidence level and an error margin of 3.4 percent.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=238663&ctNode=2194&mp=9)