Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government
The grass is not greener on the other side of the fence as many emigrants have found out. It doesn’t matter which country they plan to settle; the story is the same for most: desperation and hardship.
There have been stories of successes as the Chinese have been known for their tendency to emigrate to every corner of the world. There are Chinese restaurants and market gardens everywhere and many have even been admitted into local legislatures. There are also Hongkongers in academia and various professions taking up key positions in local communities.
But there have also been stories of hardships.
Hong Kong’s population stood at 7.1 million in 2010. Today it is officially 7.4 million and would have been more if there was not a dip of 0.9 per cent in the 2019-20 period when Hong Kong experienced devastating riots and social unrest. Many fled to the US, Canada, Australia and the UK for various reasons including searching of a better life or escaping prosecution for criminal offences relating to the riots. Others left to seek a better life abroad or to follow their loved ones.
Immigration lawyers rose like mushrooms in a damp paddock ready to sap a lucrative market seeking a new home in a far away place. And foreign governments could see the potential of a highly regarded workforce to bolster their economies. It appeared to be an ideal formula of supply and demand. But that was not to be.
Many who fled to the UK in the 2019-21 period arrived at a time when unemployment had reached 4.7 per cent so jobs in the promised land were not available. In fact, many were shunned as noted in a survey that the National Health Service (NHS) was facing severe staff shortages while Hong Kong medical professionals were Uber drivers.
Hongkongers who fled to the UK faced many problems, the greatest being language, followed by financial difficulties due to lack of work or low paying jobs.
The British think tank, British Future and its companion Welcoming Committee for Hong Kongers (WC4HK), had carried out a survey among arrivals from Hong Kong and found life in the promised land was not a bed of roses for the newcomers. They found the costs of council tax, energy bills and public transportation unexpectedly high. The useless British National (Overseas)BN(O) passport holders faced financial challenges due to their visa status, including lack of credit history, the NHS surcharge and difficulties accessing their Hong Kong pension.
Most of the participants interviewed by the WC4HK had not achieved a degree to fit with their previous jobs in Hong Kong. It was more common for the new arrivals to be working in both a different sector, and at a lower skilled level. For example an editor is now working as a waitress at events, an insurance accounts manager in a shipping firm is working in a warehouse as a picker and packer, an accountant is now working as a chef and was previously in retail and hotel work, a journalist who searched unsuccessfully for clerical work, is now working as a chef, a primary school teacher is now working in a nursing home, a construction manager is now doing freelance translation work, a marketing manager is now unemployed after working part-time in a beverage shop, a manager in a toy manufacturing company is now working on data input, a civil servant is now working as a security guard in a prison, and a director’s secretary is now working in two cleaning jobs. They are all square pegs in a round hole.
In January 2021, the British, in an effort to entice more Hong Kong people to the UK, introduced special immigration visas available to 5.4 million residents in its former colony. It was a flop!
Some 144,500 Hongkongers took up the new visa offer during the two years after the scheme was introduced. The scheme allowed BN(O) passport holders and their dependents to live and work in the UK for up to five years with the goal towards permanent residency and citizenship.
Adults born after 1997 can also apply on their own if one of their parents is a BN(O) holder.
But the Brits are putting up a brave face. British politician Robert Jenrick said last year when he was Immigration Minister that the policy allowed Hongkongers to “enjoy all the freedoms that we enjoy here [UK].” Actually, they are the very same freedoms enjoyed in Hong Kong.
And, unashamedly, he added, “Many Hongkongers have said that living in Britain is like coming home. The UK is proud to have welcomed 144,500 people from Hong Kong since the launch of the new BN(O) visa launch.”
Obviously, Mr Jenrick has not read the report from the Welcoming Committee for Hongkongers on the gripes Hongkongers have about the UK. And a success rate of 2.27 percent of the 5.4 million eligible to take up the offer is hardly something to crow about.
Mark Pinkstone
** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **
Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government
Being nice is not in the American vocabulary. Suffering from an acute superiority complex, the US is trying, unsuccessfully, to conquer the world. In the middle east, it is war with weapons of mass destruction, in the east it is with words and political manoeuvring.
Take the latest 2024 Annual Report by the US Congressional-Executive Committee on China for example. The 36-page document is sprinkled with lies from start to finish. It champions the local dissidents who have absconded overseas to seek safe havens in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK.
To indicate the validity of the report one of the key “witnesses” was China hawk Marco Rubio, Trump’s candidate for Secretary of State, called out major American corporations for their “cowardly” efforts to lobby against his bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would prevent U.S. firms from importing goods produced wholly or in part with slave labor. Rubio is by far the greatest hawk in the US and confirmation of his post as head of US foreign affairs does not bide well for us.
Not only is Rubio interfering in China and Hong Kong affairs, but also that of American businesses. Some 1400 members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, the largest Amcham outside the USA, are affected by Rubio’s rhetoric and Biden/Trump decisions. Due to the multitude of sanctions the US administration has passed on to Hong Kong companies and individuals, the US businesses are having a hard time to continue their trade and services in this Pearl of the Orient.
As an example of what the congressional session hears, Rubio told his peers that Hong Kong’s National Security Law severely limited judges’ freedom of action; the authorities were intent on quashing even peaceful dissent (police approved 382 processions and 15892 public meetings in 2023 – the second highest since 2014); the banning of the Glory to Hong Kong protest song; physical and sexual violence by prison guards against juvenile offenders; and the list of his imaginary breaches of the Basic Law goes on and on.
The 70,000Americans living in Hong Kong must shudder when hearing this false narrative from the highest authorities in the US. In fact, it was enough to force some 15,000 Americans to leave Hong Kong from the start of the riots in 2018. For them, enough is enough and the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of the US administration and the menagerie of China-hating politicians seeking glory through soundbites decrying China and Hong Kong.
Hong Kong authorities must be terribly frustrated by repeatedly debunking these false claims designed to divide the HKSAR from the mainland. But they must continue to refute these deliberate lies to maintain the integrity of Hong Kong and China.
A Hong Kong Government spokesman described the report as “a smack of despicable political manipulation with ill intentions.”
On safeguarding national security, the report said “the arbitrary application of national security laws has led to the imprisonment of dissidents and activists, further eroding fundamental freedoms in the city. Ongoing criminal prosecution on charges involving national security and sedition against individuals who peacefully exercised their rights included news media executives Jimmy Lai and Chung Pui-kuen, human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung, and student activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung. Hong Kong police issued warrants of arrest on at least 13 exiled activists and offered rewards for information leading to their arrest. These individuals advocated for democratic reform and for imposing financial sanctions on Hong Kong and People’s Republic of China (PRC) officials who perpetrated human rights violations.”
Those arrested in Hong Kong for illegal activities are no better than those arrested and charged in the January 9, 2021, storming of Capitol Hill in Washington DC. In 2019-20 Hong Kong experienced fully blown riots; they were not peaceful demonstrations. Freedoms are not absolute in Hong Kong or Washington or anywhere else and breaches of the peace are dealt with the full force of the law. This is universal.
The Hong Kong government spokesman retorted: “The HKSAR Government strongly opposes the absurd and untrue content regarding legislation safeguarding national security. In accordance with international law and international practice based on the Charter of the United Nations, safeguarding national security is an inherent right of all sovereign states. Many common law jurisdictions, including the US, UK, Australia and Canada have enacted multiple pieces of legislation and implemented measures to safeguard national security.”
The US does not understand the meaning of peace. It wages war throughout the world and if it cannot find a war, it will make one. President-elect Donald Trump comes across as an opponent of war and, he says, that with the help of China he will restore peace in the middle east. But if the present trend of hostility towards the east continues, he will have little chance of getting President Xi Jinping on side.
