BUSINESS leaders have rejected claims that there will be any negative impact resulting from large-scale emigration from Hong Kong, and believe most people will return when the political climate is more stable.
The director of Hong Kong's General Chamber of Commerce, Ian Christie, said many people who had secured passports from other countries were already returning to Hong Kong.
'There are many more returnees than the increase in the numbers who emigrate,' he said. 'The number of requests for jobs that our organisation has from overseas Chinese is a very steady stream.
'We would think that with the business and job opportunities in Hong Kong and mainland China we haven't got too much to worry about.
'Political uncertainty has been with us a long time already so it is not new.' Latest emigration figures show that Hong Kong will face an exodus this year of 62,000 residents, 9,000 more than in 1993.
The secretary of the Hong Kong Industrial and Commerce General Association, Albert Lau Ping-kwan, said many people who left were forced to come back because the economic recession affecting places such as Australia and Canada made it hard for them to find work.
'If they have wives or children they may wait for their children to finish their education,' he said. 'Otherwise, they may travel to and from the other countries because in those countries job opportunities are quite scarce, so they have to come back to make money.' Figures provided by the Australian Consulate show there were 3,863 applications to migrate up to the end of June this year, compared with 3,238 in the year 1992-93.
