THE percentage of Hong Kong people supporting the return of the territory to Chinese rule has increased, but is still less than that believing it should remain British, according to a seven-year survey project.
In 16 polls conducted between 1987 and this year, a minority of the respondents thought making Hong Kong a Special Administrative Region of China was an ideal solution to the end of the lease, David Bottomley of Asian Commercial Research (ACR) said.
More people believed staying part of Britain was a better option.
The option of making Hong Kong an independent nation was the least attractive, the analysis showed.
In 1987 when the question was first asked, 48 per cent of the respondents preferred Hong Kong to remain a British colony. The figure had dropped to 39 per cent in March this year.
The percentage of people supporting Hong Kong's reversion to China rose from 18 per cent in 1987 to 29 per cent in March. The figure dropped to 15 per cent in 1989 after the Tiananmen Square massacre.