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Rongji is Top Chinese Politician in Hong Kong

October 07, 2006

- Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, current premier Wen Jiabao, and current president Hu Jintao remain very popular in Hong Kong, according to a poll by the Hong Kong University Public Opinion Programme. On a scale from zero to 100, respondents rated their support for the three politicians with more than 70 points.

Rongji served as China's premier from March 1998 to March 2003. China took control of Hong Kong from Britain in 1997. As part of the "one country, two systems" arrangement proposed by Deng Xiaoping, China must allow Hong Kong to be sovereign in all matters—except national security and foreign affairs—until 2047.

Chinese vice-premier Wu Yi is next on the list with 67.9 points, followed by former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan's Kuomintang Nationalist Party (KMT) leader Lien Chan, and Taiwan's People First Party (CMT) leader James Soong. All these politicians clear the 50-point barrier.

Current Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian and vice-president Annette Lu, and former Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui garnered the lowest numbers, with less than 33 points. Chen's rating is the lowest of all the politicians surveyed, at 18.9 points.

Polling Data

Please use a scale of 0-100 to rate your extent of support to (the following) with zero indicating absolutely not supportive, 100 indicating absolutely supportive and 50 indicating half-half.

Sept. 2006

Mar. 2006

Sept. 2005

Zhu Rongji

74.3

74.7

76.2

Wen Jiabao

74.0

76.0

76.5

Hu Jintao

70.7

73.1

74.3

Wu Yi

67.9

67.9

--

Jiang Zemin

61.0

64.2

65.6

Ma Ying-jeou

58.9

64.0

65.4

Lien Chan

52.0

55.3

56.8

James Soong

51.7

--

--

Lee Teng-hui

32.7

28.7

37.7

Annette Lu

31.0

28.8

38.3

Chen Shui-bian

18.9

25.7

38.9

Source: Hong Kong University Public Opinion Programme
Methodology: Interviews to 1,013 Hong Kong residents, conducted from Sept. 14 to Sept. 20, 2006. Margin of error is 3 per cent.