Hong Kong residents more upbeat about ‘one country, two systems’ policy but concerns grow over freedom of speech, survey finds
Middle-of-the-road think tank Path of Democracy’s poll asked people to evaluate model in nine areas including judicial independence
Hong Kong residents’ perceptions about the “one country, two systems” policy under which China governs the city have improved in the past six months although there are increasing concerns about freedom of speech, according to the latest findings of a survey.
The poll, commissioned by the middle-of-the-road think tank Path of Democracy, asked 1,004 residents between May and June to evaluate the policy against nine areas, including judicial independence and an independent legislature.
A governor of the think tank, Dr Sung Yun-wing, said violence in mainland China against Hong Kong journalists might have affected the score for freedom of speech.
“It is possibly related to the incidents in which Hong Kong reporters were roughed up while reporting on the mainland in May, shortly before our survey started,” said Sung, who is also an associate director at the economic research centre of Chinese University’s Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies.
