HKU POP SITE releases the latest findings of people's opinions towards Taiwan issuesBack


Press Release on June 21, 2005
 

The Public Opinion Programme (POP) at the University of Hong Kong today releases on schedule via the "HKU POP SITE" (http://hkupop.pori.hk) the latest findings of people's opinions towards Taiwan issues. As a general practice, all figures have been weighted according to the gender-age distribution of the Hong Kong population obtained from the 2001 Population Census, and are summarized as follows:

 
 Date of survey 7-11/6/04 13-15/9/04 6-9/12/04 1-3/3/05 6-8/6/05 Latest change
 Sample base 1,027 1,023 1,007 1,019 1,029 --
 Overall response rate 66.9% 64.4% 67.8% 63.1% 66.0% --
 Sampling error of percentages (at 95% conf. level)* +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% --
 Taiwan independence: Opposition rate 73% 75% 78% 78% 77% -1%
 Taiwan independence: Support rate 11% 12% 11% 12% 9% -3%
 Taiwan rejoining the United Nations: Opposition rate 52% 52% 58% 58% 53% -5%
 Taiwan rejoining the United Nations: Support rate 24% 27% 24% 26% 24% -2%
 Confidence in cross-strait reunification 40% 39% 42% 53% 50% -3%
 No-confidence in cross-strait reunification 41% 45% 43% 36% 34% -2%
 Believed "one country, two systems" was applicable to TW 37% 44% 45% 49% 42% -7%
 Believed "one country, two systems" was not applicable to TW 37% 36% 37% 37% 37% --

* "95% confidence level" means that if we were to repeat a certain survey 100 times, using the same questions each time but with different random samples, we would expect 95 times getting a figure within the error margins specified.

 

Results obtained in early June revealed that, 77% of Hong Kong people interviewed opposed the independence of Taiwan whereas only 9% showed support. Meanwhile, 53% opposed Taiwan rejoining the United Nations, 24% supported it. Moreover, 50% were confident in the ultimate reunification across the strait whilst 34% expressed no confidence. As for the applicability of "one country, two systems" to Taiwan, 42% gave a positive view while 37 % gave a negative view.

 

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "The percentage of Hong Kong people who support the independence of Taiwan has dropped to a single digit, which is a record low since the beginning of this polling series in June 1993. This is a clear indication of people's wish for reunification. People's opposition to Taiwan rejoining the United Nations has, however, remained consistently lower than their opposition to the independence of Taiwan. This shows that although Hong Kong people oppose independence, they are more willing to see Taiwan playing its own role in the international community. Over the past 3 months, the percentage of those who are confident in ultimate reunification has dropped, but is still about 10 percentage-points higher than that before the operation of cross-strait direct charter flights in the Chinese New Year. Lien and Soong's visits to the Mainland have apparently prolonged that optimism, but people have also become more reserved on the applicability of 'one country, two systems' to Taiwan."

 

POP's normal practice is to release the results of our regular surveys every Tuesday at 2 pm via our POP Site, except during public holidays, each time with a forecast of the items to be released in the forthcoming week. We will review and adjust this operation regularly. According to our schedule, the date and time of our next release of survey findings will be June 28, 2005, Tuesday, at 2 pm, when the third round of survey on people's opinions on the new Chief Executive will be released.

 

Shall any person or journalist have any other questions, please email them to us at <[email protected]>. The Director of Public Opinion Programme would answer them as soon as possible. We will keep such an arrangement under constant review, suggestions most welcome. Please note that everything carried in the POP Site does not represent the stand of the University of Hong Kong. Dr Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, is responsible for everything posted herewith, except for column articles which represent the stand of their authors.