Hong Kong legislators have thought about new ways of attracting and keeping fresh talents in the city, including possible speed dating events, in the midst of a wave of emigration by middle -class professionals and young families fleeing an in progress political tightening.
Since the adoption of its first national security law in 2020, the Hong Kong government has been fighting to replace those who leave by talent systems Encourage people to move to the city to live and work, with some success to date.
While at least 144,000 had left under the United Kingdom National British abroad Visa diagram At the end of March 2024The city's population rebounded 170,000 in 2023, suggesting the greatest number of immigration in 20 years.
But recent surveys have revealed that not everyone plans to stay. About one in five struggled to get a job on arrival, according to the government's statistics mentioned in the city's legislative council on Thursday.
“Most of them said they did not know anyone in Hong Kong,” said the electoral committee of the Rock Chen Electoral Committee, which represents the electoral committee of 1,500 members, which votes for the director general and 40 of the 90 council legislators, told the debate.
“The absence of a boyfriend or a girlfriend … will make them less ready to stay and work in Hong Kong,” said Chen. “I suggest that non -governmental groups, associations of natal cities, care teams and district advisers build a full service network that could organize things such as dating speed.”
“ Care teams ''
Since 2022, Hong Kong sends “care teams“In residential districts, arousing concerns to be able to imitate local officials and volunteers who surveillance of the government and implement a policy in continental China.
The results of the government survey also revealed that many recruits of talent regimes find that the cost of living in Hong Kong is too high, said Chen, suggesting that the government is subsidizing its subsistence costs.
The representative of the electoral committee, Lam Chun-Sing, warned that those who could not win a very paid job could end up taking less well-paid jobs to the local population.
“If there are 100,000 talented people who end up not being able to find a job, it means that we will have to find more than 100,000 ordinary jobs with a monthly salary of only 20,000 HK at 30,000 HK $ HK [US$2,600-3,900]? “Lam said.” This will affect job possibilities for [non-talent-scheme] employees?”
No subsidy
The secretary of work and well-being Chris Sun said that subsidies were out of the question.
“New York and London do not offer subsidies or discounts, because they have opportunities to offer, and the same applies to Hong Kong,” Sun to the legislators. “Our positioning should be the same as [those of] London and New York.
However, the government offers non -monetary advantages to civil servants, who have also been go down in recent years, including additional day.
Commentators say that the vast majority of people who occupy the talented visas of Hong Kong come from continental China and that the government hopes to replace those who flee the city with people of China, who are considered less likely to make problems for the authorities.
“They do not respect the culture of Hong Kong, but bring their own culture,” said current business commentator at Radio Free Asia in a recent interview. “The result will be a progressive transformation of the culture of Hong Kong, its population structure and its customs.”
Based on projections published in August 2023 by Hong Kong Census department and statisticsAbout one in four of the 7 million Hong Kong residents will come from continental China by 2046, compared to about one in seven in 2022.
Visa programs
Chung Kim-Wah, former deputy professor of the social science department applied to Polytechnique University, said that visa programs were likely to comply with the desire of the Chinese Communist Party in order to replace those who leave with people raised under his rail.
“The government has used talent programs to compensate for the loss of more than 100,000 people working,” said Chung. “They granted a large number of visas, which had a certain effect, and also complies with the wishes of Beijing.”
“Beijing wants to suppress those who support democracy by clinging to the city but not to its people,” he said. “It is therefore likely that local Honggers will be replaced by people who grew up in continental China.”
He said the changes would also make Hong Kong less international over time.
In an anterior interview with FRG, Sang described 170,000 immigrants in the space of a year as “an astonishing number”.
“The Chinese Communist Party is washing the population, moving people in Hong Kong for political reasons,” he said. “It is a policy of replacing the colonial population aimed at eliminating anyone who resists its rule or is opposed to its policies.”
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Published by Roseanne GERIN.