Opinion | How to reverse Hong Kong’s brain drain: give more support to the arts, commerce and the vulnerable

Local and overseas talent is crucial to the city’s prosperity; to keep them, the government must nurture new spaces in which both enterprise and culture can flourish

Most importantly, it needs to end the bureaucratic inertia that has left many struggling to survive during the pandemic

Reading Time:3 minutes

Published: 6:45am, 24 Mar 2022

Since the sociopolitical unrest in 2019, Hong Kong has witnessed an exodus of significant magnitude. The population fell by 1.2 per cent in 2020, and by 0.3 per cent in 2021. More recently, the net outflow of people between March 1 and 15 this year was 43,200, with over 5,000 recorded on a single day, March 6.

Between Hong Kong’s substantial travel restrictions, flip-flopping public health policies, looming uncertainty over the city’s political reform, and worries about its slipping economic strength, it is likely that, while some departees may return further down the line, many won’t.

For a city with a rapidly ageing demographic, financial and legal systems built around high-end human capital, and a culture enriched by overseas workers, the brain drain is both detrimental and disappointing. So it is imperative for the government to win back the hearts and minds of Hongkongers.

The Central harbourfront, pictured on February 15, is quiet amid tightened social-distancing rules. Photo: Nora Tam

First, a significant recalibration of the relationship between government and business is in order. For decades, Hong Kong has prospered by being an attractive and user-friendly base for multinational corporations and financial institutions.

The international business community remains pivotal to economic growth and to our global standing as a hub for human and financial capital – and, of course, as a bridge between China and the rest of the world, whether through renminbi internationalisation or fair arbitration and mediation over corporate law cases.

Hong Kong’s handling of the pandemic has alienated many within the financial and commercial sectors, who view unfettered travel and in-person visits as a prerequisite for brokering deals. We have seen a steady drop in our competitiveness relative to the likes of Singapore, Shanghai and Tokyo.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s recently announced plan to relax travel restrictions offers a welcome olive branch – but if we are to again attract top-end financial and business talent from the region and beyond, we must go further. Benefits such as housing perks, start-up subsidies and education bonuses can help restore Hong Kong’s allure for investors and entrepreneurs.

Hong Kong should also look at investing in a more robust start-up ecosystem that draws on our higher education talent, and providing the only space for regulated cryptocurrency experimentation on Chinese soil (consider, for instance, the efforts by firms such as Crypto HK and Arta TechFin in combining crypto with finance).

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