Throw the gates open - wider
The New Year season is a time for reflection and resolution: reflection on what we have done right in the 12 months just passed, and resolution over what we can do better in the year ahead. Hong Kong has much to be pleased about. Our economy is booming, unemployment is at its lowest level for years, property prices have rebounded and our city has an air of confidence that would have been unimaginable a little more than three years ago.
We are laying the foundations for a prosperous future. But, as we race ahead, it is important to check that we have the right foundations in place. My fear, as we step into 2007, is that our foundations are lacking in strength.
Hong Kong's success has always been built on people. We are a city of migrants, a territory that opened its door to the north and allowed wealth and initiative to flood in. Our people turned a barren rock in the South China Sea into an entrepreneurial golden nugget. We became rich not by closing our doors, but by opening them to the world. We became successful not by keeping people out, but by letting them in.
Today, the need for people is greater than ever. Our population is ageing rapidly: our birth rate is one of the lowest in the world, and people aged 64 and above will account for more than one in four of our population by 2033, at current rates. It was for these reasons that we warmly welcomed the announcement, in the financial secretary's March budget, of a quality migrant admission scheme. It was a programme to allow up to 1,000 talented people from other parts of the world to settle in Hong Kong annually.
Announcing the scheme, Henry Tang Ying-yen told us: 'In a globalised economy, those places which can pool the most talent are the most successful. We must nurture and attract the best talent to maintain our competitive edge.' Our only reservation at the time was that the quota was too small. Why limit it to 1,000?
The government announced the early results of the scheme, last month. A total of 83 applicants had been admitted as quality migrants, more than three out of four of them from the mainland. It is disappointing that the admissions appear to be so limited in number and scope, so far. What impact can the addition of 83 people possibly have in a working economy of 3 million people?
We call ourselves Asia's 'world city'. Yet, while cities overseas become more and more cosmopolitan, our city - already 98 per cent Chinese - is in danger of becoming increasingly insular and monocultural. Hong Kong needs to cast its net wider. We need an infusion of mainland talent. We need talent from overseas countries, too. Different nationalities and different cultures bring fresh thinking and fresh vitality into a city and its economy.
Worryingly, the number of expatriates living and working in Hong Kong fell by 14 per cent, last year, to less than 80,000. The number of expatriates is down by nearly a third since the handover.
The quality migrant admission scheme has so far brought a trickle of new talent to our city: that must be turned into a flow. To achieve that, we must go out and promote this scheme more actively, setting up offices on the mainland and overseas to draw more talented people in.
One of our New Year's resolutions should be to expand this scheme significantly, and to do more to bring innovative and creative talent to our city. That will strengthen the foundations of our economic future.
James Tien Pei-chun is chairman of the Liberal Party
