| Hong Kong independence | |||||||||||||||
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 A flag reading "Hong Kong independence" in Chinese and English at a protest in 2020. | |||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 香港獨立 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 香港独立 | ||||||||||||||
| Jyutping | Hoeng1gong2 duk6laap6 | ||||||||||||||
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| Abbreviation | |||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 港獨 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 港独 | ||||||||||||||
| Jyutping | Gong2 duk6 | ||||||||||||||
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Hong Kong independence is the notion ofHong Kong as asovereign state, independent from thePeople's Republic of China (PRC). Hong Kong is aspecial administrative region (SAR) of China and is thus granted a high degree ofde jure autonomy, as stipulated by Article 2 of theHong Kong Basic Law ratified under theSino-British Joint Declaration.[1] Since thehandover of Hong Kong from theUnited Kingdom to the PRC in 1997, a growing number of Hongkongers have become concerned about what they see as Beijing's encroachment on the territory's freedoms and the failure of theHong Kong government to deliver "genuine democracy".[2] Since the early 2010s there has been a major rise of awareness in Hong Konger self-identity, which was largely seen as a reaction to the gradual encroachment of theOne country, two systems status-quo by theChinese Communist Party especially afterXi Jinping's accession toGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, thetop position in November 2012, marked a more hardline authoritarian approach. The spectre that Hong Kong may similarly be brought to heel became an important element in the independence movements.[3] Advocating for Hong Kong independence became illegal after theHong Kong national security law was enacted in 2020.[4]
The current independence movement gained significant support after the2014–15 Hong Kong electoral reform which deeply divided the territory, as it would have allowed Hongkongers to haveuniversal suffrage conditional upon Beijing having the authority to screen prospective candidates for theChief Executive of Hong Kong (CE), the head of the government of the territory. It sparked the 79-day massive occupation protests dubbed as the "Umbrella Revolution". After the protests, many new political groups advocating independence orself-determination were established, as they deemed the "One Country, Two Systems" principle to have failed.[2]
According to a number of opinion polls conducted by theChinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), theHong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (HKPORI), andReuters, a majority of Hongkongers do not support Hong Kong independence. However, support for independence is higher amongst young Hongkongers. In a CUHK survey of 1,010 Cantonese speaking Hong Kong residents in July 2016, nearly 40 per cent of respondents aged 15 to 24 supported the territory becoming an independent country, whereas 17.4 per cent of the respondents overall supported independence, despite only 3.6 per cent stating that they thought it was "possible". A majority of respondents, 69.6 per cent, supported maintaining "One Country, Two Systems", while slightly over 13 per cent of respondents supported direct governance by China.[5]
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Hong Kong Island was first occupied by the British in 1841. The island was officially ceded as acrown colony to theUnited Kingdom from theQing dynasty in 1842 after theFirst Opium War under the terms in theTreaty of Nanking. The other parts of Hong Kong,Kowloon and theNew Territories were ceded permanently and leased for 99 years to the British in 1860 under theConvention of Peking and in 1898 under theSecond Convention of Peking respectively.[7][8][9] Although the Chinese government under theKuomintang led byChiang Kai-shek initially intended to take back the territory, the British resumed control of Hong Kong in 1945 after theSecond World War, in whichHong Kong was occupied byJapan for three years and eight months. There were few advocates for the decolonisation of Hong Kong from British rule during the post-war period, notablyMa Man-fai and theDemocratic Self-Government Party of Hong Kong in the 1960s, but the fruitless movement ceased to exist without substantial support from the public.[citation needed]
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the question of Hong Kong sovereignty emerged on Hong Kong's political scene as the end of the New Territories lease was approaching. The British and Chinese governments had also begun negotiations in 1982 which would lead to theSino-British Joint Declaration of 1984. Hong Kong andMacau were both removed from theUnited Nations list of non-self-governing territories, in which territories on the list would have the right to be independent, on 2 November 1972 by request of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Although there were advocates of Hong Kong independence, the majority of the Hong Kong population, many of whom were political, economic or war refugees from theChinese Civil War and the communist regime in mainland China, wished to maintain the status quo.[citation needed]
Of 998 Hongkongers polled by Survey Research Hong Kong Ltd. in March 1982,[10] 95 per cent said that the status quo (i.e. British rule) was "acceptable", 64 per cent said the same about Hong Kong remaining under British administration but under Chinese sovereignty, 42 per cent about Hong Kong becoming aspecial economic zone of China, 37 per cent about independence, and 26 per cent about a handover to China without special provisions.[11] When asked for their preferred outcome after the 1997 deadline stipulated by the Sino-British Joint Declaration, 85 per cent of respondents supported the continuation of British rule – 70 per cent supported the status quo, while 15 per cent supported the transformation of Hong Kong into a British trust territory.[12] Only 4 per cent of respondents supported full Chinese sovereignty over Hong Kong, while 2 per cent answered "None of the above" (including those who supported independence).[12]
The request for a Hong Kong representative in the Sino-British negotiation was rejected by Beijing. In 1984, the British and Chinese governments signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration which stated that the sovereignty of Hong Kong should be transferred to the PRC on 1 July 1997, and Hong Kong should enjoy a "high degree of autonomy" under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle.[citation needed]
From 1983 to 1997, Hong Kong saw an exodus of emigrants to overseas countries, especially in the wake of the1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, when more than a million Hongkongers showed up on the streets to support student protesters in Beijing. The Tiananmen massacre of 1989 strengthenedanti-Beijing sentiments and also led to the emergence of the local democracy movement, which demanded a faster pace ofdemocratisation before and after 1997.[citation needed]
Since 1997, the implementation of theHong Kong Basic Law Article 45 and Article 68, which states that theChief Executive (CE) and theLegislative Council (LegCo) should be chosen byuniversal suffrage, has dominated the political agenda in Hong Kong. Thepro-democracy camp, one of the two largest political alignments in the territory, has called for the early implementation of the universal suffrage since the 1980s. Aftermore than 500,000 people protested against the legislation of national security law as stipulated in theBasic Law Article 23 on 1 July 2003, theStanding Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) in April 2004 ruled out universal suffrage before 2012.[13]
Since 2003, Beijing's growing encroachment has led Hong Kong to become increasingly integrated as part of China. Hong Kong's freedoms and core values were perceived to have been eroded as a result.[14][15] In 2009 and 2010, the construction of the Hong Kong section of thehigh-speed rail link to Guangzhou (XRL) escalated toa series of massive protests. Many protesters accused of the Hong Kong government spending HK$69.9 billion (US$9 billion) for an unnecessary railway just to please Beijing.[16] Some also feared it was for the benefit of thePeople's Liberation Army in order to mobilise its troops quicker. In 2012, the government's plan to carry outmoral and national education sparked controversy as it was accused of praising theChinese Communist Party andChinese nationalist ideology while condemning democracy and "western values".[17] The anti-moral and national education led by student groupScholarism headed byJoshua Wong successfully attracted high turnout of people attending assemblies which led to the government backing down.[citation needed]
In 2011, there was an emergence oflocalist sentiments, of which some took theanti-immigrationnativist stance, fearing mainland Chinesenew immigrants,tourists andparallel traders would threaten the established institutions and social customs of Hong Kong.Chin Wan'sOn the Hong Kong City-State, published in 2011, arguing for a "localist" perspective and to abandon the "Chinese nationalist sentiment", triggered fierce public debate and was popular among the young generation.[18] Chin Wan theory had a strong influence on the younger activists, who held a strong resentment against the mildChinese nationalisticpan-democrats and its organisation of the annualmemorials for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre which had a "Chinese nationalistic theme" as they perceived. Many of them also promoted nostalgic sentiments for British rule and waved colonial flags at public assemblies.[citation needed]
TheUndergrad, the official publication of theHong Kong University Students' Union (HKUSU), from February 2014, published a few articles on the subject of a Hong Kong nation including "The Hong Kong nation deciding its own fate" and "Democracy and Independence for Hong Kong".Chief ExecutiveLeung Chun-ying used his 2015 New Year's policy address to direct harsh criticism at the magazine for promoting Hong Kong independence, which in fact had little traction up to that point, fanning both the debate and sales of the bookHong Kong Nationalism which featured the articles.[19]
On 31 August 2014, theStanding Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) set restriction on theelectoral method of the Chief Executive, in which any candidate should be screened through by a Beijing-controlled nominating committee before standing in the election. The2014 NPCSC decision triggered a historic 79-day protest which was dubbed as the "Umbrella Revolution". The failure of the campaign for a free and genuine democratic process strengthened the pro-independence discourse, as it was viewed as a failure of the "One Country, Two Systems" and an independent state would be the only way out. Localist political groups led by youngsters mushroomed after the protests. As some of them such asYoungspiration took the parliamentary path by participating in the2015 District Council elections, other such asHong Kong Indigenous took the "street action" by targeting the mainland tourists andparallel traders with a militant style of protesting.[20]
On 8 February during the 2016Chinese New Year holidays, theMong Kok civil unrest broke out between police and protesters following the government's crackdown on unlicensed street hawkers. Batons and pepper spray were used by the police and two warning shots were fired into the air, while protesters threw glass bottles, bricks, flower pots and trash bins toward the police and set fires in the streets. The main participant in the event, Hong Kong Indigenous, a political group with pro-independence tendencies, was branded by Director of theChinese Liaison Office in Hong KongZhang Xiaoming as "radical separatists" who were "inclined toward terrorism."[21] ThePeople's Liberation Army also released a statement holding "individual local radical separatist organisation(s)" responsible for the riot as well as criticising western media for "beautifying the unrest" in its early reports.[22]Edward Leung, leader of the Hong Kong Indigenous who was heavily involved in the civil unrest, scored a better-than-expected result in theNew Territories East by-election later in the month by taking 15 per cent of the vote. After the result, Leung claimed localism had gained a foothold as the third most important power in local politics, standing side by side with the pan-democracy and pro-Beijing camps.[23]
Hong Kong National Party, the first party openly advocating for Hong Kong independence and a Republic of Hong Kong was established on 28 March 2016, drawing attacks from the Beijing and SAR governments. The State Council'sHong Kong and Macau Affairs Office issued a statement condemning the party, saying it "has harmed the country's sovereignty, security, endangered the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, and the core interests of Hong Kong ..."[24] The Hong Kong government issued a statement after the formation of the party, stating that "any suggestion that Hong Kong should be independent or any movement to advocate such 'independence' is against the Basic Law, and will undermine the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong and impair the interest of the general public ... The SAR Government will take action according to the law."[24]
Demosistō, a political party mainly led by the former student leaders such asJoshua Wong andNathan Law in the 2014 Occupy protests established on 10 April 2016, advocated a referendum to determine Hong Kong's sovereignty after 2047, when the "One Country, Two Systems" principle as promised in the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Hong Kong Basic Law is supposed to expire. Demosistō formed electoral alliance with other like-minded, and stresses the notion "democratic self-determination" as opposed to the right-wing pro-independence groups' "national self-determination". Due to its advocacy for "referendum", the Company Registry and police delayed their registration as a company or society. The party was also unable to set up its own bank account to raise funds.[25]
TheUndergrad again published an article in March 2016 headed "Hong Kong Youth's Declaration" argues for Hong Kong independence on expiry of theSino-British Joint Declaration in 2047. It demands a democratic government be set up after 2047 and for the public to draw up the Hong Kong constitution. It also denounces the Hong Kong government for becoming a "puppet" of the Communist regime, "weakening" the territory's autonomy. Leung Chun-ying dismissed the claim, insisting that "Hong Kong has been a part of China since ancient times, and this is a fact that will not change after 2047."[26]
In the2016 Legislative Council election,six pro-independence activists were disqualified, includingHong Kong Indigenous'Edward Leung andHong Kong National Party'sChan Ho-tin, by theElectoral Affairs Commission (EAC), in which the government argued that their pro-independence stances did not comply with the Basic Law Article 1 which stated that Hong Kong being an inalienable part of China and Legislative Council Ordinance (Cap. 542) § 40(1)(b) which required all candidates to uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. On 5 August, the Hong Kong pro-independence activists launched a rally which was dubbed "first pro-independence rally in Hong Kong" and drew about 2,500 people.[27] The localists who successfully entered the race, together took away 19 per cent of the total vote share in the general elections under different banners and slogans advocating "self-determination".[citation needed]
On 12 October 2016, the inaugural meeting of the Legislative Council, twoYoungspiration legislatorsBaggio Leung andYau Wai-ching took the oaths of office as an opportunity to make pro-independence statements. The two claimed that "As a member of the Legislative Council, I shall pay earnest efforts in keeping guard over the interests of the Hong Kong nation," displayed a "Hong Kong is not China" banner, inserted their own words into the oaths and mispronounced "People's Republic of China" as "people's re-fucking ofChee-na".[28] （Hong Kong Government Cantonese Romanisation uses the same "ch" letter combination to represent both aspirated chʼ and unaspirated ch, and omits the diacritics. English readers may find this spelling confusing and mispronounce the sounds.Yale romanisation of Cantonese, on the other hand, uses different letters to represent these two sounds. The Yale Romanization for these two characters is "ji1 na5".[29] To enable English readers to produce a pronunciation closest to the Cantonese, spelling it as "Jee-na" would be more appropriate.）Their oaths were invalidated by the LegCo secretary-generalKenneth Chen and were subsequently challenged by the government in the court. On 7 November 2016, theNational People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) interpreted the Article 104 of theBasic Law of Hong Kong to "clarify" the provision of the legislators to swear allegiance to Hong Kong as part of China when they take office. The spokesman of theHong Kong and Macau Affairs Office stated that "[Beijing] will absolutely neither permit anyone advocating secession in Hong Kong nor allow any pro-independence activists to enter a government institution."[30] Consequently, the court disqualified that the two legislators on 15 November.[31]
After the disqualification of the two legislators, the government launched the second wave of legal challenge against four more pro-democracy legislators who used the oath-taking ceremony, including Demosistō'sNathan Law as well asLau Siu-lai, who ran their campaigns with the "self-determination" slogan. On 14 July 2017, the four legislators were unseated by the court.[32]
On 4 September 2017, the Hong Kong independence issue made a high-profile reappearance as the banners calling for independence surfaced at theChinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) overnight ahead of the new academic year. The school staff quickly removed them.[33] Independence banners and posters surfaced at more universities as seven student unions joined forces to condemn the removal of the banners and posters by campus authorities as a "serious erosion" of academic freedom.[34]
Quarrels and confrontation between some local and mainland students broke out as a number of mainland Chinese students grouped themselves to tear down the posters advocating Hong Kong independence on the CUHK campus's "democracy wall". The action of the mainland students was praised by theChinese Communist Youth League which shared the video on its officialWeChat account.[35] A commentary titled "A rule must be set to make Hong Kong independence criminal" published on the state-ownedPeople's Daily overseas edition website said the discussion on Hong Kong independence should be made illegal, just like it is illegal to promote Nazism in Germany.[36]
On 11 September,Chief ExecutiveCarrie Lam denounced the pro-independence banners and posters, asserting the students' message ran counter to the "one country, two systems" principle and the Basic Law, "I condemn the continued appearance of such remarks on university campuses, which is in violation of our country's sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests," she said. She also insisted academic freedom and university autonomy were no excuse for propagating fallacies.[37] On 15 September, ten university heads in Hong Kong,City University of Hong Kong,Hong Kong Baptist University,Hong Kong Shue Yan University,Lingnan University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, theEducation University of Hong Kong, theHong Kong Polytechnic University, theHong Kong University of Science and Technology, theOpen University of Hong Kong and theUniversity of Hong Kong, condemned the "recent abuses" of the freedom of expression in a joint statement, adding that all the universities do not support Hong Kong independence as it contravenes the Basic Law.[38]
In theMarch 2018 Legislative Council by-elections for the four seats left vacant by the disqualified legislators over the oath-taking controversy, three candidates were disqualified by the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) returning officers, includingDemosistō'sAgnes Chow on the basis of that she "cannot possibly comply with the requirements of the relevant electoral laws, since advocating or promoting 'self-determination' is contrary to the content of the declaration that the law requires a candidate to make to uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region]."[39][40] TheEuropean Union issued a statement warning that banning Chow from the by-election "risks diminishing Hong Kong's international reputation as a free and open society".[41] LocalistsVentus Lau Wing-hong and James Chan Kwok-keung were also barred from running due to their previous pro-independence stance.[citation needed]
In theNovember by-election,Lau Siu-lai, ousted pro-democracy legislator in the oath-taking controversy was barred from entering the race by Returning Officer Franco Kwok Wai-fun on the basis of Lau previous advocacy of Hong Kong's self-determination, which showed she had no intention of upholding the Basic Law and pledging allegiance to Hong Kong as a special administrative region of China.[42] In the same month, Legislative CouncillorEddie Chu who ran for the Village Representative election inYuen Long was asked by Returning Officer Enoch Yuen if he agreed to uphold the Basic Law, agreed to recognise China's sovereignty over Hong Kong, and whether he supported Hong Kong independence. Chu restated his position that he has never supported Hong Kong independence: :I advocate and support the democratisation of the Basic Law and the political system – including but not limited to amending Article 158 and 159 of the Basic Law – as a goal of Hong Kongers’ self-determination after the Central Government blocked universal suffrage." On 2 December, Chu was told that his candidacy was invalid, making him the tenth candidate barred from running in the election for his political belief and the first banned from running in the village-level election.[43]
In August,a controversy erupted in 2018 when the FCC hosted a lunchtime talk with Andy Chan, convenor of theHong Kong National Party (HKNP) to take place on 14 August. Victor Mallet, vice-chairman of the press organisation, chaired the session.[44] The governments of China and Hong Kong had called for the cancellation of the talk, because the issue of independence supposedly crossed one of the "bottom lines" on national sovereignty.[45][46] After a visit to Bangkok, Mallet was denied a working visa by the Hong Kong government.[47] Mallet was subjected to a four-hour interrogation by immigration officers on his return from Thailand on Sunday 7 October before he was finally allowed to enter Hong Kong.[48]
In the absence of an official explanation, Mallet's visa rejection was widely seen to be retribution for his role in chairing the Andy Chan talk, which the FCC refused to call off.[44][46] Secretary for SecurityJohn Lee insisted the ban on Mallet was unrelated to press freedom, but declined to explain the decision.[48] The incident caused a furious debate over restrictions to freedoms that were promised in theSino-British Joint Declaration which included a "high degree of autonomy", democratic reforms, and maintenance of the freedom of the press.[49]
In March, following months of protests, a poll by Reuters found that support for independence had risen to 20 per cent, while opposition had fallen sharply to 56 per cent, and those who were indifferent had doubled to 18 per cent.[50]
In May 2020, after thedecision on Hong Kong national security legislation was published, US congressmanScott Perry proposed a bill "to authorize the President to recognize the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China as a separate, independent country, and for other purposes."[51][52]
Advocacy of Hong Kong independence was outlawed with the enactment of theHong Kong national security law on 1 July 2020, which banned "acts of secession".[4] As of 20 November 2023[update], a total of 285 individuals have been arrested on suspicion of acts and activities endangering national security, some of whom were charged with acts of secession.[53]
Political parties that support Hong Kong's independence includeHong Kong Indigenous,Hong Kong National Party andYoungspiration. Youngspiration calls for theright to self-determination of the "Hong Kong nation" on their sovereignty.Localist activist groupCivic Passion has expressed its support for Hong Kong independence before, but later called for the amendment of theBasic Law of Hong Kong through a civil referendum in the2016 Legislative Council election.[54] Before disbanding as a result of the 2020Hong Kong national security law,Demosisto also called for the right to self-determination to determine Hong Kong's future after 2047 when theOne Country, Two Systems principle as promised in theSino-British Joint Declaration and theHong Kong Basic Law is supposed to expire, although independence wasn't the party's position.[55][56] Other parties, such as theAlliance of Resuming British Sovereignty over Hong Kong and Independence (BSHI) and theHong Kong Independence Party, call for the return of British rule.
According to a survey conducted by theHong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute in December 2019, one-fifth of Hong Kong's population supported Hong Kong independence, while 56 per cent of Hongkongers opposed it.[57]
Reasons that have been cited in favour of independence include:
The Chinese government firmly opposes Hong Kong independence. Former Chinese paramount leaderDeng Xiaoping opposed British Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher's alternative proposals during the Sino-British negotiation in the early 1980s as he believed she "wanted to turn Hong Kong into some kind of an independent or semi-independent political entity".[63]
After the establishment of theHong Kong National Party in March 2016, an editorial piece in the Chinese government-ownedGlobal Times slammed the Hong Kong National Party by stating that it is "impossible to achieve" independence for Hong Kong and calling it "a practical joke" and "forefront of extremism".[64] The State Council'sHong Kong and Macau Affairs Office issued a statement through the officialXinhua News Agency condemning the party: "The action to establish a pro-independence organisation by an extremely small group of people in Hong Kong has harmed the country’s sovereignty, security, endangered the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, and the core interests of Hong Kong ... It is firmly opposed by all Chinese people, including some seven million Hong Kong people. It is also a serious violation of the country's constitution, Hong Kong's Basic Law and the relevant existing laws."[24] The spokesman of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office stated that "[Beijing] will absolutely neither permit anyone advocating secession in Hong Kong nor allow any pro-independence activists to enter a government institution," after theNational People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) interpret the Article 104 of theBasic Law of Hong Kong which aimed to disqualify the twoYoungspiration legislatorsBaggio Leung andYau Wai-ching.[30] On the universities' independence banner row, a commentary titled "A rule must be set to make Hong Kong independence criminal" published on the state-ownedPeople's Daily overseas edition website said the discussion on Hong Kong independence should be made illegal, just like it is illegal to promote Nazism in Germany.[36]
The Hong Kong government issued a statement after the formation of the Hong Kong National Party, stating that "any suggestion that Hong Kong should be independent or any movement to advocate such 'independence' is against the Basic Law, and will undermine the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong and impair the interest of the general public ... The SAR Government will take action according to the law."[24]
Chinese nationalists deem the Hong Kong independence movement to behanjian (traitors).[65]
Thepro-Beijing camp holds the same stance with the Beijing and SAR government and strongly opposes Hong Kong independence. The mainstreampan-democracy camp sympathised with the pro-independence cause but generally opposes Hong Kong independence as they do not think it would be beneficial to Hong Kong, nor practical or achievable.[56] They believe that to fight for genuine democracy and safeguard the high degree of autonomy under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle is the most foreseeable solution.[citation needed]
Although politicians and scholars likeChin Wan,Wong Yuk-man andCivic Passion'sWong Yeung-tat are seen as leadinglocalist figures and have been close to the Hong Kong independence movement and even had advocated "nation building", they have also cut clear that they do not support Hong Kong independence during the midst of theHong Kong LegCo candidates' disqualification controversy. They claim they fight for an amendment of the Basic Law through civil referendum to maintain Hong Kong's autonomy similar to that ofGreenland's.[54]
The lastBritish colonial governorChris Patten opposes Hong Kong independence, worrying such activists would "dilute support" for democracy in Hong Kong: "[i]t would be dishonest, dishonourable and reckless of somebody like me, to pretend that the case for democracy should be mixed up with an argument about the independence of Hong Kong – something which is not going to happen, something which dilutes support for democracy, and something which has led to all sorts of antics which should not take place in a mature society aiming to be a full democracy."[66]
In September 2017, ten university heads in Hong Kong,City University of Hong Kong,Hong Kong Baptist University,Hong Kong Shue Yan University,Lingnan University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, theEducation University of Hong Kong, theHong Kong Polytechnic University, theHong Kong University of Science and Technology, theOpen University of Hong Kong and theUniversity of Hong Kong stated that all the universities do not support Hong Kong independence as it contravenes the Basic Law.[38]
Reasons cited in favour of maintaining Hong Kong as part of China include:
| Date(s) conducted | Polling source | Sample size | Should Hong Kong be an independent country? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | |||
| August 2020 | HKPORI | 1,007 | 19.5% | 58.5% |
| 15–18 June 2020 | Reuters | 1,002 | 21% | 60% |
| 17–20 March 2020 | Reuters | 1,001 | 20% | 56% |
| 17–20 December 2019 | Reuters | 1,021 | 17% | 68% |
| 7 June 2017 | CUHK | 1,028 | 11.4% | 60.2% |
| 17 July 2016 | CUHK | 1,010 | 17.4% | 57.6% |
