My Take | Mainland needs to speed up Hong Kong integration
- To merge Hong Kong with the rest of the country, Communist Party membership and the People’s Liberation Army should be open to local volunteers who are willing and ready to serve
There are many “refugees” fleeing Hong Kong – from the barely controlled pandemic and its many related restrictions of movement and business – to the much safer and less restricted mainland.
But they are travelling in high numbers, and legally. Unsurprisingly, they are rarely reported in the foreign press, which much prefers the narrative of “political refugees” – or rather fugitives from Hong Kong law – escaping persecution or worried locals emigrating pre-emptively. The fact is that there are movements in both directions.
In the first week of December when the new wave of Covd-19 cases was hitting a peak, more than 31,000 Hong Kong residents left for the mainland, Immigration Department figures show. A total of 50,500 went to the mainland in November.
While authorities have yet to reopen the border to Hong Kong, many locals are willing to put up with quarantine and pay for it rather than staying in the gloomy city.
Meanwhile, more Hong Kong people are considering work on the mainland, including government jobs. A total of 446 candidates from Hong Kong and Macau last month took a written test run by the Shenzhen government to compete for just five civil service openings.