Hong Kong’s main pollster plans to stop publishing survey results of some subjects, which may include the 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square and popularity of the police, underscoring the changing nature of the city.
The Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute intends to only publicize half of its results in future after canceling a fourth of the regular survey questions and keeping another third for internal reference only, PORI said in a press release dated Tuesday.
The move comes after PORI earlier this month canceled the release of a poll surveying Hong Kong residents on their views on the June 4, 1989 crackdown. The polling company scrapped the release after receiving “suggestions” from government departments, according to a PORI statement June 6.
Controversial subjects such as the Tiananmen crackdown have become taboo as the city’s government seeks to avoid potential sources for dissent. An annual candlelit vigil commemorating the bloody assault was last held in 2019, before the implementation of a Beijing-imposed national security law. The government is stepping up efforts to ensure all parts of society adhere to the law.
Tiananmen Crackdown Taboo Topic in Hong Kong on Anniversary
Questions about the crackdown, Taiwan, disciplinary forces and some social indicators are among those topics that are “likely to be questions kept but moved into the private domain,” said Robert Chung, the organization’s president and CEO. A finalized list of questions and topics will be announced next month, the statement said.
Chung has been polling Hong Kong residents for decades about a wide range of subjects, including popularity of the city’s leaders, the annual budget and social wellbeing. Some of the regular survey questions include whether people think the Chinese government “did the right thing” in the June 4 incident and whether Hong Kongers have “a responsibility to instigate the development of democracy in China.”
