Letters | Move over zero-Covid Hong Kong, make way for ‘World City’ Singapore
- Readers discuss Hong Kong’s alienating pandemic policy, the quarantine exemption for JPMorgan’s CEO, the essential work done by pilots, and an issue with the vaccine record QR code
The Hong Kong government has recently revoked most quarantine exemptions to clear the roadblocks to reopening the border between Hong Kong and the mainland. While reopening the border is undeniably important, because it could give our economy a boost, as almost the only territory which enforces a “zero-Covid” policy along with mainland China, Hong Kong faces the increasing risk of alienating our international trading partners. This policy could also discourage expats from working in Hong Kong.
The government promotes Hong Kong as “Asia’s World City” but the current policies go in the opposite direction, eroding the difference between Hong Kong and mainland cities.
With many places reopening their borders and adopting the “living with Covid” strategy, even as Hong Kong isolates itself, and with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor insisting that reopening the border with the mainland is the priority over the rest of the world, maybe the Hong Kong government should concede the title of “Asia’s World City” to Singapore and reposition Hong Kong as “China’s Ordinary City” instead.
T.P. Man, Kwai Tsing
Quarantine-free entry for bank CEO slap in face of SMEs
Does Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor not comprehend that one person does not define the economic interests of Hong Kong? That responsibility has been the burden of the residents of Hong Kong who have, despite the government’s draconian and scientifically unproven quarantine restrictions, battled daily to ensure that our economy survives.
