About 10 days ago I flew to London with Cathay Pacific.
At least half the economy cabin was taken up by Hong Kong Chinese children returning to boarding schools in Britain.
It was a pleasant flight, but it suddenly dawned on me how large the number of Hong Kong Chinese children studying abroad must be, and how all these children, many of whom must have right of abode in foreign countries such as Britain, Australia, the United States and Canada, would be affected by the ruling on permanent residency in Hong Kong for 1997 handover.
The mainland government has announced that Hong Kong Chinese who are citizens of other countries can keep their permanent residency status in the territory if they are physically here at the time of the handover.
This has already sparked reports of a rush for air tickets among immigrants trying to get back to the territory by June 30 next year.
Are those Hong Kong Chinese children who are studying abroad likely to be similarly affected? As the summer term does not finish until July, is there going to be an exodus of Chinese children from every boarding school/educational institute in the English-speaking world in late June in a mad scramble to get back to Hong Kong, disrupting studies and examinations? I think the Immigration Department should elaborate on the permanent residency rule, if only to allow the parents of these children to plan ahead.
