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Taiwan President Ma's popularity falls 43 per cent

Other News Materials 20 July 2008 18:00 (UTC +04:00)

(dpa) - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou's popularity rating has fallen by 43 percentage points to the public's discontent with his handling of domestic and international issues, a newspaper said on Sunday.

According to the China Times's poll of 828 adults, Ma's popularity rating has fallen to 36 per cent from 79 per cent last March when Ma won the presidential election. Ma, from the China-friendly KMT party, was inaugurated on May 20.

Dissatisfaction with Ma's performance has surged to 43 per cent, up from 10 per cent when Ma took office on May 20 and 29 per cent last month.

The survey showed that 51 per cent of those polled are happy with Ma's China policy, but 55 per cent want Ma to do more to boost Taiwan's stock market and revive investors' confidence.

On March 22, Ma won the presidential election with 58 per cent of the vote on promises to improve ties with China and to bring peace and prosperity to Taiwan.

While he has scored a breakthrough in Taipei-Beijing ties by resuming dialogue and launching weekend charter flights with China, Ma has been blasted for Taiwan's continuing economic problems and his soft stance on the Taiwan-Japan dispute over the sovereignty of the Tiaoyu Islands.

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