Six out of 10 Hong Kong citizens want Beijing to reverse its official verdict over the Tiananmen Square crackdown, according to a survey released yesterday, one week ahead of the 20th anniversary of the events of June 4, 1989.
The figure is 12 percent higher than a similar survey by the University of Hong Kong’s Public Opinion Program last year, and the highest since the first such poll in 1994.
The survey, which questioned 1,000 people in Hong Kong last week, also found that 69 percent believe Beijing “did the wrong thing” in dealing with the student-led protest which was branded by the communist government as a counter-revolutionary plot.
Seventy-eight percent of those questioned believed people in Hong Kong had a responsibility to help bring about democracy in China.
Robert Chung (鍾庭耀), director of the public opinion program, said: “Although Hong Kong people generally recognize China’s achievement in its economic development, more and more would like to see China develop its democracy at the same time.”
Experts believe the growing sympathy in Hong Kong for the Tiananmen Square movement has been fueled by the publication of the memoirs of former Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang (趙紫陽) and by controversial comments made by Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) earlier this month.
Tsang sparked outrage when in a question-and-answer session with legislators, he said “time has passed” and China had made great economic strides since the Tiananmen Square crackdown, adding: “My view represents the overall view of the community.”
Tsang’s remarks led to chaotic scenes as pro-democracy legislators staged a mass walkout in the chamber. He later issued an apology, saying he was wrong to imply that he spoke for the whole of Hong Kong.
Organizers of an annual candlelight vigil to remember the 1989 massacre are hoping the sentiments echoed in the survey indicate a record turn-out for the event next Thursday.
Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 after 156 years as a British colony under a “one country, two systems” arrangement that guarantees freedom of speech and expression for its 7 million citizens.
Hong Kong is the only place on Chinese soil where the killings are publicly and legally commemorated.
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
RSS