Advertisement

Hong Kong pollster cancels release of annual survey of public opinion on Tiananmen Square crackdown after ‘risk assessment’ from officials

  • Head of Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute says decision was taken after ‘risk assessment’ by administration
  • June 4th Anniversary Survey Report, due to be released on Tuesday, has been published since 1993

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
16
Mak Yin-ting, a veteran journalist and former chairwoman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, is taken to a police van after she was detained in Causeway Bay, near the traditional site of the Tiananmen Square June 4 crackdown commemoration. Photo: Elson Li
A Hong Kong polling organisation on Tuesday said it had cancelled the release of a survey of public opinion about the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown after a government official told them not to make it public because of a “risk assessment” by the administration.
Advertisement

Robert Chung Ting-Yiu, the president and chief executive officer of The Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (Pori) said the organisation had not decided on how to handle this year’s survey report.

He added the institute was already in the process of reviewing how it would operate after July 1 when it was told about the risk assessment.

“We may continue to conduct some of our tracking surveys, and/or keep some of them for academic or private reference only, and/or stop some of the surveys,” Chung, the former director of the public opinion programme at the University of Hong Kong before the polling organisation became independent in 2019, told the Post.

Robert Chung, the head of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, says the organisation has cancelled the release of a survey on public attitudes to the Tiananmen Square crackdown because of a government risk assessment. Photo: Dickson Lee
Robert Chung, the head of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, says the organisation has cancelled the release of a survey on public attitudes to the Tiananmen Square crackdown because of a government risk assessment. Photo: Dickson Lee

Pori had planned to release its “June 4th Anniversary Survey Report” on Tuesday.

Advertisement
Advertisement