A Hong Kong pollster said it would no longer publish the results of surveys on ten sensitive topics and would stop asking some questions, including those concerning the human rights situation in China.
The announcement was the latest by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI) . Last month the institute said it had cancelled the release of a survey on Hongkongers’ views of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, citing “suggestions” made by “relevant government department(s).”
PORI said at the time it would scrap a quarter of its regular survey questions and keep private the results of some others.
Survey results kept private
At a press conference on Thursday, PORI officials listed the ten surveys whose results would be kept private and cited examples of questions being cancelled.
Robert Chung, the president and chief executive officer of PORI, said the cancelled questions included asking people to compare the current human right situation in China to that in 1989.
The Tiananmen crackdown on June 4 that year ended months of student-led demonstrations in China. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, died when the People’s Liberation Army cracked down on protesters in Beijing.
The survey series whose results will be kept private were listed on PORI’s website. They would include “national issues” including questions on Taiwan. Other surveys whose results will not be published touch on the disciplinary forces, ethnic identity and global issues, among other topics.
Risk assessment
“We did not consult any government officials on which questions should be put where, but we were aware of the risk assessments made by some government departments in the past, not just [the] past month, but past many months,” Chung said.
Chung said the institute had also considered the public demand for its survey results.
“We have to conserve our resources and energy now and spend less efforts on those questions which are not reported, not used by anyone, and in a way some of those questions might have generated some unwarranted political disputes we did not intend to do so.”
In response to media questions, Chung said the move was nothing to do with “self-censorship.”
“We are not telling anyone including all of you here that we are not going to do a certain survey because we are afraid of this or that…[W]e are taking it as whether it is worthwhile, useful and whether we should spend resources on it,” Chung said.
PORI would still release the popularity ratings of people in the government including the chief executive, seeing this as part of its “social responsibilities.”
In the future, people will have to download the private survey results in the Poll Data Enquiry System of PORI and will have to sign the agreement online to undertake that they will not use the data for “illegal purposes,” or “transfer or resell it to any person.” Some survey results might even cost fees.
National security
PORI was previously attacked by pro-establishment media, with the People’s Daily – the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper – blasting the organisation over its opinion surveys relating to the “patriots only” Legislative Council election in December 2021.
The newspaper accused PORI of using “so-called ‘public opinion’ to hijack society.” Its surveys indicated that a record low percentage of the population intended to vote in the elections, the first since a Beijing-imposed overhaul that effectively barred opposition candidates from running.
In April last year, Chung Kim-wah, PORI’s then-deputy chief executive officer, left Hong Kong for the UK and called the city a place where one may “no longer live normally and without intimidation.”
In June 2020, Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution – bypassing the local legislature – following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts, which were broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure.
The move gave police sweeping new powers, alarming democrats, civil society groups and trade partners, as such laws have been used broadly to silence and punish dissidents in China. However, the authorities say it has restored stability and peace to the city.
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