Font size: 
Two days before the march, Yahoo Taiwan News conducted an online poll, in which 50.3 percent of those surveyed said they felt satisfied or very satisfied with Ma's performance, while 49.7 percent felt dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.
A poll by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, however, gave Ma an approval rating of just 36.9 percent, with 57 percent dissatisfied with his performance. Despite accusations of money laundering and corruption on the part of the former president and his family, the DPP still enjoys 20 percent support among the Taiwanese public, the poll showed.
The march was organized by the Taiwan Society, a pro-independence group established in 2006, and attracted participation from the pan-green, pro-independence political camp. DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen delivered a rousing speech at the event.
Two days after the march, Ma said that its three themes – protection of sovereignty, reviving the economy and eliminating corruption in politics – were all concerns of his administration, and he was willing to work harder to bring the objectives and visions of the ruling and opposing parties closer together.
Lo Chih-cheng, secretary general of the Taiwan Society, criticized Ma’s reply as “perfunctory, arrogant and likely to cause more complaints from the people.” His society has criticized Ma for failing to fulfill his promise of generating an economic growth rate of more than 6 percent, an unemployment rate below 3 percent, and a per capita national income of US$30,000 – despite the fact that his administration has been in place little more than three months.
The administration’s office of budget, accounting and statistics projects that growth rates for this year and next will be 4.3 percent and 5.08 percent respectively – both lower than Ma’s promised 6 percent.
Official data showed a 4 percent unemployment rate in July. Over the past eight years under Chen Shui-bian’s leadership, the unemployment rate was usually above 4 percent, with a peak of 5.17 percent in 2002. Ma’s supporters point out that Chen is the one who should be taking most of the responsibility for Taiwan’s failing economy, and that Ma’s three months in office is not enough time to turn things around.
In terms of relations with China, Ma has insisted he will seek neither unification nor independence, and advocates a “diplomatic truce,” which means he will stop competing with mainland China over diplomatic ties with other countries – mostly by offering economic aid – and weapons. But the pan-green camp still holds tightly to its ideology of confrontation with China – insisting that Taiwan’s sovereignty should be affirmed and its “international space” broadened.
Marchers carried signs reading “Taiwan does not equal China,” “Taiwanese are not people of China,” and, referring to Ma: “Incapable of governance but capable of betraying Taiwan.” These slogans demonstrated the strong views of Taiwan’s pro-independence faction, who seek to hold onto their identity as “owners” and disagree with Ma’s “pro-China” policy, reported the Liberty Times, a pro-independence newspaper in Taiwan.
Wu Po-hsiung, current chairman of the ruling KMT, commented that the sovereignty of the Republic of China, the official name for Taiwan, remains firm. However, not a single ROC national flag could be seen among those protesters demanding “sovereignty” all day long, Wu criticized.
It may seem unfair to level accusations of betraying Taiwan and being “pro-China” against Ma at such an early stage of his administration. The green camp appears to have forgotten that Ma publicly told Western media he is very unlikely to see unification between Taiwan and mainland China in his lifetime. He also clearly stated that Taiwan’s future will be decided by the entire Taiwanese population.
Taiwan’s valuable democratic practices – such as the right to protest, freedom of speech and “one person, one vote” for its leader – may not lead to independence unless the majority of the island’s people agree on this option – which almost none of the pan-green supporters can seriously consider.
It seems the political parties in Taiwan’s pan-green camp lack the imagination to envision a day when a party like the DPP will be able to compete on the soil of mainland China. If China were to shift to a democratic system, there would be few obstacles to unification. Some think this is only a matter of time.
