Barring of dissidents dents Hong Kong's confidence in Beijing

Feb 1, 2011, 4:59 GMT

Hong Kong - Hong Kong people's confidence in Beijing has fallen after dissidents who wanted to attend the funeral of a democracy leader were barred from the city, a poll found Tuesday.

More people said they did not have confidence in the Beijing government than those who did in the poll conducted as dissidents were refused entry for Szeto Wah's funeral on Saturday.

Wang Dan, a leader of the 1989 student movement in Beijing who now lives in Taiwan, and fellow dissident Wu'er Kaixi were both denied entry by the Hong Kong government.

The dissidents and pro-democracy politicians in Hong Kong said they believed the administration of the former British colony had refused them entry on Beijing's orders.

In the Chinese University poll, 24.9 per cent of more than 800 interviewees said they had confidence in the Beijing government while 27.6 per cent said they did not.

The finding was a reverse of a December poll which found slightly more people had confidence in the central government than did not, researchers said.

Confidence in Beijing's political and economic leadership has risen gradually since Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty under a 'one country, two systems' arrangement in 1997.

Hong Kong people have freedom of speech and political rights denied to people elsewhere in China but the city's Beijing-appointed government has at times been accused of curtailing some freedoms.

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