The government has always had ears for public opinion in formulating policy on the development of relations across the Taiwan Strait, a senior official said Sunday. 'Public opinion has been a major guideline in the formulation and implementation of our cross-strait policies and action programs, ' said Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Vice Chairman Liu Te-shun. The MAC, which charts and coordinates Taiwan's policy toward China, has invariably respected public opinion in dealing with cross-strait affairs and has been subjected to legislative supervision in policy implementation, he said. 'Whenever we carry out cross-strait policy, national interests have consistently been our top concern,' Liu noted. He made the statement after President Ma Ying-jeou, who doubles as Kuomintang (KMT) chairman, said the previous day after his party suffered a setback in mayoral and magistrate elections that his administration is willing to listen to public opinion about the government's concrete cross-strait policies and to make necessary adjustments or improvements. 'While the MAC cannot explain in detail some policy issues at the moment, it has always referred to public opinion when drafting its policy proposals and work agenda,' Liu said. The KMT's less-than-ideal showing in Saturday's elections has prompted some politicians from the pro-independence opposition camp to demand that the Ma administration adjust its allegedly China-leaning cross-strait policies, such as signing a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China. Citing the results of a public opinion survey the MAC commissioned National Chengchi University to conduct in late September, Liu said 60 percent of the respondents to the poll threw their support behind the fourth round of high- level cross-strait talks scheduled to be held in central Taiwan's Taichung City later this month. 'The figure indicates that local people generally support the policy of engagement with China,' Liu explained. The poll also found that 55 percent of the respondents said they favor the signing of the ECFA, a cross-strait version of the free trade agreements signed among major countries around the world. Meanwhile, 44.7 percent said they thought the present pace of opening to cross- strait exchanges in various fields is optimal, compared to 33 percent who said the pace is too fast and 12 percent who said it is too slow. As most of the 17 cities and counties in which the three-in-one local elections were held are either known as Taiwan's main food-producing areas or as home to traditional labor-intensive industries, the opposition pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP's) stronger-than-expected showing might have an adverse impact on cross-strait exchanges and the signing of the ECFA, according to some analysts. Kao Hui, a professor at the Kinmen Institute of Science and Technology, said that at the very least, the DPP will have more weight or more say in the direction of future cross-strait relations. 'I think DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen, a former MAC head, will become more critical of the KMT's cross-strait policy as a result of her party's electoral gains,' Kao said. 