The number of Hong Kong people who want Beijing to reverse its verdict on the Tiananmen Square crackdown has hit a post-handover high of 54 per cent, a survey says. The findings came as the Democratic Party said it had recently rejected 'advice' from a pro-Beijing figure to stop calling for a reversal of the verdict in exchange for better relations with the central government. Ahead of the 15th anniversary of the crackdown, the annual University of Hong Kong poll also found that 52 per cent of respondents thought the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China - branded 'subversive' by Beijing - should not disband, also a post-handover high. Fifty-four per cent of the 1,039 respondents said Beijing should reverse its verdict, a seven-percentage-point rise over last year's survey, while 71 per cent said Hong Kong people had a responsibility to push for democratic development on the mainland. However, the number of respondents who believed the students did the right thing in 1989 dropped to 42 per cent from 46 per cent last year, while only 10 per cent believed Beijing acted correctly. Meanwhile, Democratic Party chairman Yeung Sum said his party was recently 'advised' by a pro-Beijing figure to drop its demand for a vindication of the 1989 democracy movement in exchange for improved ties with the central government. Party legislator Cheung Man-kwong, who is also an executive member of the alliance, said the figure was a member of the local pro-Beijing camp.
