The number of people emigrating from Hong Kong has been rapidly increasing, Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department data show, with the territory’s population dropping by 110,000 people from 2019 to this year. China’s imposition of a National Security Law has clearly triggered a massive population outflow.
However, not only people but also foreign businesses are leaving Hong Kong. For example, Vanguard Group, the world’s second-largest asset management company, VF Corp and Sony Interactive Entertainment have moved their top regional management from Hong Kong to Singapore. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury goods company, has also relocated staff from its Hennessy alcoholic beverage department in Hong Kong to Singapore.
Some foreign businesses have considered quitting Hong Kong, but not because of the National Security Law. On Oct. 6, the European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong said that the territory’s “zero COVID” strategy and strict quarantine measures have led many European businesses to consider leaving.
The question is: Where do they go? These examples show that many foreign businesses quitting Hong Kong have relocated to Singapore. Could they be persuaded instead to relocate to Taiwan? This would require the government to take the initiative to resolve issues that drive businesses away from Hong Kong — such as strict disease prevention measures and a lack of freedoms — to offer a more attractive environment.
First, Taiwan’s disease prevention measures are more effective than Singapore’s. The city-state has reported a record number of COVID-19 infections, with more than 3,000 new daily cases recorded on the five days to Oct. 9. Singapore’s total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeds 120,000, accounting for 2 percent of its population.
Given its COVID-19 situation, even though Singapore has adopted a “living with COVID” strategy, there are no guarantees that company operations would not be effected, not to mention that the pandemic is not over.
Taiwan currently has a COVID-19 prevalence of 0.067 percent. Apart from the mandatory use of masks, life in Taiwan is basically unaffected by the virus. Amid the pandemic, this is a rare living and business environment for foreign businesses.
Second, Taiwan is safer. According to the Crime and Safety Index published on July 13 last year by the online database Numbeo, Taiwan ranked second for safety, surpassing Singapore, which was ranked 34th.
Third, Taiwan is freer. This year’s annual Freedom in the World report by Freedom House ranked Taiwan second in Asia with 94 points, second only to Japan, while Singapore scored 48 points and was categorized as a “partly free country.”
Based on this analysis, the government should act promptly — and often — to persuade foreign businesses in Hong Kong about the advantages of relocating to Taiwan.
Liu Ming-te holds a doctorate in political science from the Free University of Berlin.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
Russian President Vladimir Putin is an expert at bluffing and keeping the West on its toes, pushing relations to the edge before pivoting without warning. However, hemmed in and fuming, he is deadly serious about being heard on Ukraine. Those close to the Kremlin said that the Russian president does not want to start another war in Ukraine. Still, he must show he is ready to fight if necessary in order to stop what he sees as an existential security threat: the creeping expansion of the NATO in a country that for centuries had been part of Russia. After years of disillusionment
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) sixth plenary session has ended and from all appearances, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has set the stage to rule for the rest of his life. Some might be tempted to declare that this calls for Xi to do a victory lap, but all is not well on the other side of the Taiwan Strait. To parody a line from Ya Got Trouble, a song from Broadway musical The Music Man: “There’s trouble in River City, (aka, Beijing). Trouble with a capital T, which rhymes with C for CCP.” Why? Taking control of a nation is always much
Among the voices expressing concern for Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai (彭帥) over the past two weeks, one was barely audible — that of her long-time former doubles partner Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇). Following their defeat in the WTA Finals championship match in Mexico on Nov. 18, Taiwan’s Hsieh and her Belgian partner Elise Mertens fielded questions via a Zoom call. Chinese state media had just released an incredibly suspicious e-mail, purportedly from Peng, and Canadian tennis Web site Open Court broached the issue. With the entire tennis world chiming in, seeking Hsieh’s opinion seemed obvious. However, the Web site’s reporter prefaced her question
When analyzing Taiwan-China tensions, most people assume that the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) consists of rational actors. Embedded within this belief are three further suppositions: First, Beijing would only launch an attack on Taiwan if it were in China’s national interest; second, it would only attack if the odds were overwhelmingly in its favor; and third, Chinese decisionmakers interpret information objectively and through the same lens as other actors. These assumptions have underpinned recent analyses — including by Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) — concluding that there is no
RSS