THE Government should relax its ban on civil servants working with the Preliminary Working Committee (PWC) on transitional matters, according to a new survey.
The poll showed the public was unhappy with Governor Chris Patten's performance in dealing with China - more than half the respondents were dissatisfied with the present Sino-British relationship.
The survey, conducted by the pro-China One Country Two Systems Research Centre, found 63 per cent thought the Government should help the PWC to prepare for the handover. Only eight per cent considered it should not. The rest were unsure.
Seventy-two per cent agreed that co-operation between the PWC and civil servants was important, five per cent disagreed and the remainder gave no opinion.
In a sample of 1,046 people, the study showed 53 per cent were dissatisfied with Mr Patten's way of handling Beijing, 19 per cent were happy and the rest were unsure.
Fifty-one per cent were unhappy with the existing Sino-British relationship, 26 per cent were happy with it, and the rest had no opinion either way.