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Opinion | Don’t discount the millions of Hongkongers who voted with their feet – by staying
- Many Hongkongers who are eligible to live elsewhere have not moved, a testament to their confidence in the city
- And a disappointing stock market performance is no indicator of poor economic prospects – Hong Kong has gone through some low points, but bounced back each time
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The US State Department recently released its 2024 Hong Kong Policy Act Report, which includes a notable statistic: the number of Americans living in Hong Kong as of the end of 2023 had reached 84,000, the highest since the pandemic and 30 per cent more than in 2014, when such data was first released.
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Americans aren’t the only ones returning to Hong Kong in large numbers. Immigration statistics registered a net inflow in both 2022 and 2023, an increase of 152,300 people in total, compared to a net outflow in 2020 and 2021, a decrease of 97,200 in total.
This must be news to Stephen Roach, a friend and occasional co-author of mine, who argued in an op-ed that “Hong Kong is over” and more recently bemoaned a “major exodus of talent”. His data must be dated, or he needs to prove that the city has replaced talent with dumber people.
People choose to live in Hong Kong. The vast majority of the population have the option to live elsewhere, in a country equally rich or richer. In addition to 84,000 Americans, there are about 300,000 Canadians, 100,000 Australians and 37,000 Britons, among many other foreign nationals.
Around 5.4 million residents – nearly three out of four Hongkongers – are British National (Overseas) status holders, or dependants or children of BN(O) holders, who are eligible to live in the United Kingdom under a “bespoke” immigration policy. By the end of 2023, only 157,576 people, less than 3 per cent, have taken up the offer.
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What makes Hong Kong so attractive? It remains a free and open society with arguably the freest capitalist system in the world. Its legal system is based on the common law with a judiciary so independent that nine out of 17 seats on the bench of the highest court are filled by foreign judges from Britain, Australia and Canada. Of the remainder, four are also foreign citizens.
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