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2012 ELECTIONS:
Milkfish orders would not sway voters, poll finds
Staff Writer, with CNA
A recent survey commissioned by the Chinese-language Business Weekly concluded
that China’s “silver bullet” offensive would not change the voting behavior of
residents in Syuejia District (學甲), Greater Tainan, a traditionally Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) stronghold.
The China-based Shanghai Fisheries Group struck a deal with a company in Syuejia
last year to buy 1.8 million kilograms of milkfish from the southern Taiwanese
district starting in August, local media reported. The deal attracted the
attention of the Business Weekly because it marked the first time that a Chinese
company had committed to buying a specified amount of milkfish over a specified
period of time at a preset price from southern Taiwanese fish farmers.
The fish are scheduled to be purchased through a Taiwanese company from 100
contract aquaculture farmers in Syuejia, a rural stronghold of the Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP).
The weekly said in a report in its Oct. 24-30 issue that the deal was initiated
by Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中), vice chairman of the Beijing-based Association for
Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, during a visit to Syuejia in August last
year in an apparent effort to sway voters there.
Business Weekly editor-in-chief Kuo Yi-ling (郭奕伶) revealed the findings of its
429-day study on Wednesday, saying that the milkfish deal could be an effective
indicator of the impact of the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework
Agreement (ECFA).
Zheng proposed the deal shortly after Taiwan and China signed the ECFA, which
was largely based on free-trade agreements between several other countries, Kuo
said.
Business Weekly interviewed three aquaculture farmers who joined the contract
supply arrangement between Shanghai Fisheries Group and Tainan-based Shinejia
Foods Co.
A 50-year-old woman identified only as Nichiu said she was taking part in the
program because the terms were not bad. Under the pact, the price for the fish
was set at NT$75 a kilogram, which is NT$5 to NT$10 higher than the general
market price, she said.
“I hope the pact will help me repay the NT$8 million debt I incurred because of
flooding caused by Typhoon Morakot in 2009,” the woman said.
Business Weekly commissioned Shih Hsin University to conduct an opinion poll
among adult residents in Syuejia earlier this year to see how the relatively
lucrative milkfish deal would affect Syuejia residents’ voting behavior.
Syuejia has a population of less than 20,000 and historically up to 70 percent
supported the DPP.
Poll results showed that 44 percent of the respondents were aware of the milk
fish deal between the Shanghai company and Shinejia Foods, while 55 percent said
they had heard of the ECFA.
Among those aware of the milkfish deal, 60 percent gave it a thumbs-up, while
only 8 percent opposed it. The support rate was especially high among fish
farmers and college graduates.
Asked who should be credited for the deal, most of President Ma Ying-jeou’s
(馬英九) supporters answered the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government, while
a majority of DPP supporters said it was the fruit of businesspeople’s efforts,
the poll said.
The Business Weekly survey found that only 48 percent of the respondents were
willing to answer the question about their voting preferences in the upcoming
presidential poll. Of those, 57 percent said they would vote for DPP Chairperson
Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文); 31 percent said they would vote for Ma and 12 percent said
they would back People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).
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