A growing number of Hong Kong students support independence for the former British colony, amid sliding confidence in the “one country, two systems” formula under which the city is governed, an online poll by a university magazine showed.
The findings come a month after Hong Kong’s embattled leader Leung Chun-ying warned against the rise of separatism, after parts of the city were paralysed last year by more than two months of pro-democracy protests.
About 28 percent of 569 students polled by Undergrad, a student union magazine of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), supported independence, up from 15 percent in a similar poll early last year.
Some 53 percent of respondents favored the “one country, two systems” formula as the best political structure for Hong Kong, down from 68 percent in early 2014, according to the poll, done between Jan. 24 and Feb. 5.
In January, Leung expressed concern that universities could be incubating a separatist movement that could threaten Beijing’s sovereignty. He singled out Undergrad magazine for advocating self-determination.
