Hong Kongers are looking for greener pastures overseas as the territory’s freedoms and living standards slide, with those emigrating saying the huge political protests rocking the international finance hub are just the latest catalyst.
Edward, a Hong Kong information science student living in Taipei, is nearly at the end of his course, but has no plans to return to his birthplace.
The 23-year-old, who asked not to use his family name, said he was thinking about heading to Australia in the next few years.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
Huge protests sweeping Hong Kong sparked by a Beijing-backed plan to allow extraditions to the mainland have only reinforced his determination to emigrate — and pushed him to consider settling in Taiwan for good.
“The China extradition law has prompted me to speed up my immigration plans,” he said from his university campus.
Taiwan, a democratic nation just an hour’s flight from Hong Kong, is an easier place to settle, Edward said, offering a path to citizenship within about three years for students.
“In my college there are more and more Hong Kong students each year,” he added.
Obtaining precise data on how many Hong Kongers are emigrating is difficult, because the government does not keep those numbers.
Moreover, many of Hong Kong’s wealthier residents — including politicians and business leaders — already have dual passports, a legacy of the territory’s 1997 handover to China when scores snapped up British, Canadian, US and Australian passports.
However, more anecdotal evidence suggests there has been a steady drain of talent away from the territory in the past decade — a period that has seen public anger build over rising inequality, eye-watering property prices and fears Beijing is trying to undermine Hong Kong’s unique freedoms and culture.
John Hu (胡康), a Hong Kong migration consultant, said there were two distinct recent periods where emigration spiked: the lead up to the handover and after the failure of the 2014 “Umbrella movement” pro-democracy protests to win any concessions.
The extradition bill has prompted “a third wave.”
“The rate of inquiries rose nearly 50 percent” after the bill was announced in February, Hu said.
“When the people went onto the streets to protest, it rose even more,” he asid.
Top destinations remained English-speaking nations with large Chinese communities, such as Australia, Canada, the US and Britian, he said, but many were increasingly willing to consider other EU nations.
Most of his clients are middle-class or younger people, often concerned about the standard of medical care and high cost of living.
“And I think the political environment lately has accelerated the demand for emigration,” he added.
YouTube and Facebook now abound with videos explaining how to emigrate while a poll by a local university last year found a third of respondents — including nearly half of those who are college-educated — said they would emigrate if they got the chance.
Steven Lam, a 37-year-old who works for a logistic company, said he and his wife were already considering a move to Australia following the birth of their child to escape Hong Kong’s notoriously high-pressured school system.
The political situation has only hardened their resolve.
“China is tightening its grip on Hong Kong,” he said.
“I will miss Hong Kong so much,” he said. “But thinking for the next generation, I think it’s worthwhile,” he added.
Po Fung (蒲鋒), a Hong Kong film critic in his 50s, moved to Taiwan last year, and said he has no regrets.
He now runs a film-themed bookstore in Taipei, obtaining a residency permit through an immigration scheme that requires an NT$6 million (US$192,617) investment.
“I don’t like Hong Kong’s political environment because there is a continuous tightening in human rights and it’s making me very unhappy to live in that environment,” he said.
“There are also economic factors I can’t overlook,” he said, adding that Taiwan was a much cheaper place to spend his planned retirement years.
However, others say the protests have reinvigorated a desire to stay.
Cheung Hon-yuen, a 55-year-old electrician who was out protesting last week, said his father fled Communist China for safety in Hong Kong.
“I wanted to emigrate to another country, but now that I see the Hong Kong people are so united I want to stay,” he said. “I don’t want to give up until the end.”
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese