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* indicating the remaining percentages of responses from the total responses minus those answered "Don't know/hard to say".
Our latest findings showed that, regarding people's feeling towards 15 different governments, those with recognition rates at 90% or above include Hong Kong, Mainland, Britain, Macau, Taiwan and America. Those with recognition rates between 76% and 89% include the Singapore, Japan, Australia, Canada, Indonesia and Philippines, while those with recognition rates at 75% or below include Vietnam, Russia and India.
Recent figures of people's feeling towards different governments are summarized below, first divided according to region, and for Asian and non-Asian countries other than the four cross-strait governments, they are further ranked according to people's positive feelings:
| Date of survey |
13-20/11/02 |
10-12/11/03 |
8-11/11/04 |
18-23/11/05 |
20-24/11/06 |
Latest change |
| Sample base |
1,058 |
1,062 |
1,000 |
1,019 |
1,012 |
-- |
| Overall response rate |
65.2% |
63.4% |
64.5% |
62.9% |
58.8% |
-- |
| Sampling error of percentages (at 95% confidence level)* |
+/-3% |
+/-3% |
+/-3% |
+/-3% |
+/-3% |
-- |
| Hong
Kong |
Positive** |
27% |
20% |
27% |
59% |
53% |
-6% |
| Negative** |
25% |
36% |
23% |
7% |
10% |
+3% |
| Mainland |
Positive** |
46% |
44% |
35% |
50% |
43% |
-7% |
| Negative** |
12% |
10% |
12% |
11% |
11% |
-- |
| Taiwan |
Positive** |
19% |
13% |
10% |
17% |
11% |
-6% |
| Negative** |
30% |
40% |
47% |
40% |
53% |
+13% |
| Macau |
Positive** |
-- |
-- |
57% |
68% |
66% |
-2% |
| Negative** |
-- |
-- |
2% |
3% |
3% |
-- |
| Singapore |
Positive** |
55% |
53% |
54% |
52% |
57% |
+5% |
| Negative** |
5% |
6% |
6% |
6% |
5% |
-1% |
|
Japan |
Positive** |
25% |
22% |
20% |
11% |
21% |
+10% |
| Negative** |
22% |
30% |
36% |
56% |
39% |
-17% |
| Vietnam |
Positive** |
7% |
7% |
5% |
8% |
12% |
+4% |
| Negative** |
25% |
27% |
30% |
22% |
26% |
+4% |
| India |
Positive** |
4% |
5% |
6% |
9% |
11% |
+2% |
| Negative** |
22% |
18% |
16% |
15% |
16% |
+1% |
| Philippines |
Positive** |
9% |
7% |
8% |
10% |
8% |
-2% |
| Negative** |
25% |
36% |
24% |
23% |
28% |
+5% |
| Indonesia |
Positive** |
4% |
5% |
5% |
7% |
6% |
-1% |
| Negative** |
42% |
45% |
33% |
32% |
40% |
+8% |
| Britain |
Positive** |
50% |
43% |
36% |
45% |
43% |
-2% |
| Negative** |
10% |
10% |
13% |
11% |
10% |
-1% |
| Australia |
Positive** |
34% |
36% |
34% |
35% |
40% |
+5% |
| Negative** |
4% |
4% |
3% |
5% |
4% |
-1% |
| Canada |
Positive** |
34% |
33% |
34% |
35% |
37% |
+2% |
| Negative** |
2% |
3% |
2% |
4% |
3% |
-1% |
| America |
Positive** |
18% |
14% |
13% |
14% |
13% |
-1% |
| Negative** |
32% |
41% |
40% |
46% |
40% |
-6% |
| Russia |
Positive** |
10% |
11% |
10% |
14% |
10% |
-4% |
| Negative** |
18% |
14% |
20% |
14% |
22% |
+8% |
|
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* "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.
** Collapsed from a 5-point scale.
Findings obtained in late-November 2006 showed that, regarding the results of people's feeling towards different governments, 53% felt positive towards the HKSAR government while 10% felt negative. For the other cross-strait governments, the corresponding percentages of people having positive feelings towards the Mainland, Taiwanese and Macau SAR governments were 43%, 11% and 66%, whereas 11%, 53% and 3% felt negative towards them correspondingly. As for other governments in Asia, those who had positive feelings towards the Singaporean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indian, Filipino and Indonesian governments were 57%, 21%, 12%, 11%, 8% and 6% respectively. As for countries outside Asia, the percentages of people having positive feelings towards the British, Australian, Canadian, American and Russian governments were 43%, 40%, 37%, 13% and 10% correspondingly.
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Commentary
Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "We started our survey on Hong Kong people's feeling towards different governments in 1997, in order to study Hong Kong people's global views. According to our findings accumulated over the years, Hong Kong people's familiarity with different governments has actually increased in recent years, meaning that people's horizon has indeed widened. The processes of globalization and information infiltration, and the increasing number of Hong Kong people going on trips, may all have contributed to the change. In general terms, the more contacts people have with different countries, the more they know about the world, and the more objective they would become regarding their views on different governments. In our most recent survey, it is interesting to note that Hong Kong people like the Macau SAR and Singaporean governments most, way above 50% and more than they like the Hong Kong SAR Government. On the negative side, Hong Kong people seems to dislike the Taiwanese government most, probably because of its inclination towards independence. It should be noted, however, that we are just measuring people's feeling towards different governments, not peoples. As internationalization continues, we at HKUPOP will expand our scope of survey in due course to cover more topics in the same area."
News about POP
POP's normal practice is to release the results of our regular surveys every Tuesday afternoon via our POP Site, except during public holidays, each time with a forecast of the items to be released in the next 7 days. According to schedule, our next release of regular survey findings will be December 12, 2006, Tuesday, between 1pm to 2 pm, when the latest popularity figures of CE Donald Tsang and Principal Officials will be released.
Our general practice is to answer all questions on the research design of the surveys published in the POP Site as soon as we receive them, but we will not further comment on the findings. We welcome questions for follow-up purpose, please email them to us at . 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 POP, is responsible for everything posted herewith, except for column articles which represent the stand of their authors.
Starting from January 2006, we have included in our regular press releases a small educational section for the purpose of general civic education, so that we can share our experience with the general public. The subject of our education section today is "About HKUPOP".
FAQs of Opinion Research
Mapping people's feelings towards different governments
As the world progresses, Hong Kong people need to know and care more about the world, on top of their concern for local matters. Around the time of Hong Kong's handover, we at HKUPOP began to measure Hong Kong people's global views, while at the same time stepping up our surveys on national issues. Herewith some details regarding the development of our survey of people's feelings towards different governments:
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In April 1997, our survey series on people's feelings towards different governments began. The wordings used in the questionnaire being "On a whole, do you have positive or negative feelings towards XXX government?" We first measured people's feelings towards the Hong Kong, Mainland, British, Taiwanese, Japanese and American governments. Surveys were conducted twice every year at irregular intervals, and after a pause in 2001, we rescheduled our surveys in 2002 to once a year. It has remained unchanged since then. As for people's feelings towards the Canadian, Australian, Russian, Indian, Filipino, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Singaporean and Macau governments, we began our survey in September 1997 using the same wordings, but our schedule was to conduct one survey every year. Except for 2001 when no survey was conducted, our schedule has remained unchanged, except for Macau. We first measured people's feeling towards the Macau Government in 1997, then stopped, and resumed our survey in 2004 once very year.
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Regarding sample size, from the beginning to 1999, the sample size of "people's feelings towards different governments" survey was set at slightly over 500, while beginning from 2000, it was increased to at least 1,000. As for "people's feelings towards the Macau SAR government, since 2004, the sample size has been changed from slightly over 500 to at least 1,000.
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The findings of our surveys on "people's feelings towards the Mainland, British and HKSAR governments" conducted in 1998 and 1999 had been published in our newsletter POP Express, which have also been uploaded on-line at our HKU POP Site. As for the other figures, they are released via our HKU POP Site today for the first time.
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