A senior Hong Kong-based central government envoy has criticised as 'unscientific' and 'illogical' the way questions were posed in a recent University of Hong Kong survey that found that locals identified themselves more strongly as Hongkongers than as Chinese citizens.
The comments yesterday by Hao Tiechuan, of the central government's liaison office, marked a rare attack against an academic survey, apparently because the findings were deemed undesirable.
In an informal meeting where only some local television reporters were invited, Hao, director general of the office's department of publicity, cultural and sports affairs, said the poll was wrong to give respondents the options of 'Hong Kong citizens' and 'Chinese citizens', as if they were separate.
Hao reportedly said that since the handover, there should not be any difference between viewing oneself as a 'Hong Kong citizen' and 'Chinese citizen'. He said Hong Kong was now an administrative region of China and it was only logical for a person to mean he is a 'Chinese citizen' when referring to 'Hong Kong citizen', according to television reports.
Cable TV also quoted Hao as saying: 'Hong Kong is not an independent political entity. If [a Hong Kong citizen] is not a Chinese citizen, which country's citizen would he be?' The correct approach, he said, should be to ask respondents whether they viewed themselves as 'British citizens' or 'Chinese citizens', according to television reports.
The reports said Hao was speaking in a personal capacity.