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KMT POLL FINDS MORE THAN 40% OPPOSED TO 'DEFENSIVE REFERENDUM'

2003-12-13 15:04:24

    Taipei, Dec. 13 (CNA) More than 40 percent of the respondents in a recent survey commissioned by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) said they are opposed to the president's plan to hold a "defensive referendum" on the day of the next presidential election, a KMT official said Saturday.

    Huang Teh-fu, director of the KMT's public opinion poll center, said his party commissioned a private opinion survey company to conduct the poll on randomly selected adult residents around the island from Dec. 9-11 to explore their views on President Chen Shui-bian's referendum plan. A total of 1,078 valid samples were collected.

    President Chen said earlier this month that he will hold a referendum on the day of the March 20 presidential election to allow the people of Taiwan to voice their opposition to Beijing's military threat to their country.

    The latest KMT poll found that 44.4 percent of the respondents said they think such a referendum should not be held in order to avoid provoking a cross-Taiwan Strait war. In contrast, 28.9 percent said they support the holding of the "defensive referendum" as an effort to prevent Taiwan from being "swallowed" by mainland China.

    According to the survey, 49.8 percent of those interviewed said they think the main purpose of Chen's "defensive referendum" plan is to improve his re-election chances, while 29.6 percent said they believe the referendum plan epitomizes Chen's determination to protect the nation's sovereignty.

    Asked whether Taiwan's sovereign status faces a threat, 50.5 percent said they don't think so, while 29.1 percent said they think it does.

    Asked who they would vote for if mainland China were to announce a decision to launch a military exercise in the run-up to Taiwan's March 20 presidential election, 38.2 percent said they would cast their ballot for the opposition "pan-blue alliance" ticket of KMT Chairman Lien Chan and People First Party Chairman James Soong, while 30.8 percent said they would opt for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party ticket of Chen and Vice President Annette Lu.

    More than 20 percent of those interviewed chose to keep mum on most of the questions listed in the survey, Huang said.

(By Sofia Wu)

enditem/Li