Chandran Nair

On Reflection | Leaving Hong Kong isn’t the answer. Staying and building a new one is

It is not only the national security law and protests that have some heading for the exit – high living costs and limited social mobility are playing a part too

If a foreign government can purport to offer a million passports, surely the Hong Kong government working with developers and banks can offer a million homes.

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A government-sponsored advertisement promotes the national security law in Hong Kong. Photo: Bloomberg

Chandran Nair

Published: 1:30pm, 8 Aug 2020Updated: 1:35pm, 8 Aug 2020

Since the implementation of the new national security law, there has been concern that some Hong Kong people may choose to leave the city. A few places are openly considering making it easier for Hong Kong people to move to their countries, with Britain – despite its government’s anti-immigration Brexit stance – going the furthest in expanding the rights afforded to holders of BNO (British National Overseas) status.

Despite commentary from foreign governments that these moves are motivated by a wish to help those involved in last year’s protests, in practice the outreach has mostly focused on attracting the city’s professional classes and thereby milking the predicted brain drain. Privately, many heads of professional bodies have expressed concern that young and talented Hong Kong people, such as lawyers, doctors, engineers and accountants, may choose to leave.

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UK offers Hongkongers with BN(O) passports path to citizenship after new national security law

A young Hong Kong family may choose to leave for a variety of reasons. One reason, commonly highlighted by the media, is apprehension over how the national security law will be applied, given all the fear that is being generated by the global media. But there are other more practical reasons too. Last year’s social unrest was disruptive:families may choose to leave in search of stability – e.g., educating their children – regardless of how they felt about the protests themselves despite the various downsides of moving overseas.

And then there’s the search for economic opportunity: high living costs and constrained social mobility mean that some Hong Kong people may think that they have a better chance to improve their quality of life somewhere else in the long term. In this calculation they are willing to pay the price of living in a less exciting place and even never being accepted as equals. The option to return is, after all, always there as has proven to be the case with so many who left before the handover in 1997.

Hong Kong is not alone in having a young population that is disillusioned and discontented with the status quo, marked by diminished social mobility, increased competition, higher cost of living, relatively low political representation and irresponsible politicians. The difference is that Hong Kong’s openness means that its young professionals can – or at least believe they can – find opportunities overseas. They will be neither the first nor the last to discover that the grass is not always greener elsewhere and hanker for home later in life, often with regrets.