TAIPEI: HongKongers are looking for greener pastures overseas as the city's freedoms andliving standards slide, with those emigrating saying the huge politicalprotests rocking the international finance hub are just the latest catalyst.Edward, a Hong Kong information science student living in Taipei, is nearly atthe end of his course but has no plans to return to his birth city.
The 23-year-old,who asked not to use his family name, said he was thinking about heading toAustralia in the next few years. Huge protests sweeping Hong Kong sparked by aBeijing-backed plan to allow extraditions to the mainland have only reinforcedhis determination to emigrate -- and pushed him to consider settling in Taiwanfor good.
"The Chinaextradition law has prompted me to speed up my immigration plans," he saidfrom his university campus. Taiwan, a democratic self-ruled island just anhour's flight from Hong Kong, is an easier place to settle, Edward explained,offering a path to citizenship within about three years for students. "Inmy college there are more and more Hong Kong students each year," headded.
Steady drain
Obtaining precisedata on how many Hong Kongers are emigrating is difficult because the governmentdoes not keep those numbers. And many of the city's wealthier citizens --including politicians and business leaders -- already have dual passports, alegacy of the city's 1997 handover to China when scores snapped up British,Canadian, American and Australian passports.
But moreanecdotal evidence suggests there has been a steady drain of talent away fromthe city in the last decade -- a period that has seen public anger build overrising inequality, eye-watering property prices and fears Beijing is trying toundermine Hong Kong's unique freedoms and culture. John Hu, a Hong Kongmigration consultant, said there were two distinct recent periods whereemigration spiked: the lead up to the handover and after the failure of the2014 "Umbrella Movement" pro-democracy protests to win anyconcessions. The extradition bill has prompted "a third wave".
"The rate ofinquiries rose nearly 50 percent" after the bill was announced inFebruary, Hu told AFP. "When the people went onto the streets to protest,it rose even more". Top destinations, he said, remained English-speakingnations with large Chinese communities like Australia, Canada, the UnitedStates and Britain. But many were increasingly willing to consider otherEuropean Union nations.
Most of his clientsare middle class or younger people, often concerned about the standard ofmedical care and high cost of living. "And I think the politicalenvironment lately has accelerated the demand for emigration," he added.YouTube and Facebook now abound with videos explaining how to emigrate while apoll by a local university last year found a third of respondents -- includingnearly half of those who are college-educated -- said they would emigrate ifthey got the chance.
'I will miss Hong Kong'
Steven Lam, a37-year-old who works for a logistic company, said he and his wife were alreadylooking considering a move to Australia following the birth of their child toescape Hong Kong's notoriously high-pressured school system. But the politicalsituation has hardened their resolve. "China is tightening its grip onHong Kong," he said. "I will miss Hong Kong so much," he said."But thinking for the next generation, I think it's worthwhile."
Po Fung, a HongKong film critic in his fifties, moved to Taiwan last year, and says he has noregrets. He now runs a film-themed bookstore in Taipei, obtaining a residencypermit through an immigration scheme that requires a TW$6 million ($193,000)investment. "I don't like Hong Kong's political environment because thereis a continuous tightening in human rights and it's making me very unhappy tolive in that environment," he said.
"There arealso economic factors I can't overlook," he added, saying Taiwan was amuch cheaper place to spend his planned retirement years. But others say theprotests have reinvigorated a desire to stay. Cheung Hon-yuen, a 55-year-oldelectrician who was out protesting last week, said his father fled CommunistChina for safety in Hong Kong. "I wanted to emigrate to another country,but now that I see the Hong Kong people are so united I want to stay," hesaid. "I don't want to give up until the end." - AFP