Tank Man：「 Sympathy for student movement grows in HK (South China Morning Post 28 May 2009) 」
Sympathy for student movement grows in HK (South China Morning Post 28 May 2009)
There has been a sharp rise in the number of Hongkongers who want the 1989 pro-democracy movement vindicated by Beijing.
According to a poll of 1,011 respondents carried out by the University of Hong Kong's Public Opinion Programme last week, those who said the central government must reverse its official stance on the June 4 incident increased from 49 per cent last year to 61 per cent.
It was the highest since the same question was first posed in the annual survey in 1994. Beijing has branded the movement an "anti-revolutionary riot". On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said there was no need for the central government to apologise for its handling of the incident.
Some 69 per cent of respondents also said "the central government did the wrong thing" in curbing peaceful protests with troops and tanks - an 11 percentage point rise from last year and the highest since the handover.
The percentage of those who said the students had done "the right thing" hit 56 per cent, an increase of 6 percentage points.
Although those who believed the students were in the wrong also rose by 4 percentage points, the figure was relatively low at 19 per cent.
There was also another significant change in perceptions of human rights on the mainland, with a drop in those who believed things would improve in three years' time. The latest figure, 63 per cent, was a drop of 14 percentage points on last year.
Seventy-eight per cent believed people in Hong Kong had a responsibility to instigate democratic development on the mainland, and there was a 6 per cent rise, to 29 per cent, among those who thought people should "put more effort" into such endeavours. Sixty per cent said the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China should not be disbanded - 14 percentage points more than last year.
Robert Chung Ting-yiu, director of the public opinion programme, said: "Although Hong Kong people generally recognise China's achievement in its economic development, more and more people would like to see China develop its democracy at the same time."
The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 1 to 3 per cent.
Ambrose Leung
According to a poll of 1,011 respondents carried out by the University of Hong Kong's Public Opinion Programme last week, those who said the central government must reverse its official stance on the June 4 incident increased from 49 per cent last year to 61 per cent.
It was the highest since the same question was first posed in the annual survey in 1994. Beijing has branded the movement an "anti-revolutionary riot". On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said there was no need for the central government to apologise for its handling of the incident.
Some 69 per cent of respondents also said "the central government did the wrong thing" in curbing peaceful protests with troops and tanks - an 11 percentage point rise from last year and the highest since the handover.
The percentage of those who said the students had done "the right thing" hit 56 per cent, an increase of 6 percentage points.
Although those who believed the students were in the wrong also rose by 4 percentage points, the figure was relatively low at 19 per cent.
There was also another significant change in perceptions of human rights on the mainland, with a drop in those who believed things would improve in three years' time. The latest figure, 63 per cent, was a drop of 14 percentage points on last year.
Seventy-eight per cent believed people in Hong Kong had a responsibility to instigate democratic development on the mainland, and there was a 6 per cent rise, to 29 per cent, among those who thought people should "put more effort" into such endeavours. Sixty per cent said the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China should not be disbanded - 14 percentage points more than last year.
Robert Chung Ting-yiu, director of the public opinion programme, said: "Although Hong Kong people generally recognise China's achievement in its economic development, more and more people would like to see China develop its democracy at the same time."
The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 1 to 3 per cent.
Ambrose Leung