As reported by the Straits Times last week, “Hong Kong’s population rose 0.4 percent to 7.5 million in 2023, boosted by a net inflow of returning residents and people on residential schemes.” While the report speaks of overseas residents returning, it also notes “successive admission of mainland and overseas persons through various schemes into Hong Kong”. The net inflow of people overall was 51,000. This data challenges a fundamental narrative pushed by the mainstream Western media that Hong Kong is in a state of “decline”.
You have read many articles these days that hyped an “exodus” of residents, citing the “impact” of the national security laws and the facility of the BN(O) visa program. This feeds into a wider narrative pushed by the Western media, which like to talk about the “decline” of Hong Kong in terms of its economic, business and cultural appeal. The BBC sensationally wrote several weeks ago: “Are Hong Kong’s days as a global business hub over?” Many have gone further and said Hong Kong is outright “dead”.
As I have elaborated many times before, this kind of coverage is designed to push a narrative or a particular point of view than look at the facts. Yet the immediate data showing that inward immigration into Hong Kong, including from overseas residents, is still high poses questions to this specific narrative.
First of all, I don’t deny that Hong Kong has obviously had a few difficult years. No matter which way you look at it, the 2019 riots had a very destructive impact, but contrary to the specific narrative, the national security laws have been the solution to, not an exacerbation of, the problem, restoring peace, order and stability to Hong Kong. And those arguing that the foreign-backed insurrection could continue like that are doing so in bad faith, if not naivety.
As I have elaborated many times before, this kind of coverage is designed to push a narrative or a particular point of view than look at the facts. Yet the immediate data showing that inward immigration into Hong Kong, including from overseas residents, is still high poses questions to this specific narrative
Second, the COVID-19 pandemic was also detrimental to the city, and the recovery from this is, for most intents and purposes, only a year old. International tourism to Hong Kong in full resumed in 2023, but remains at 60 percent of the previous total. While the mainstream Western media of course deliberately jump to blame this on the national security laws, my research finds that the fundamental problem roots in international flights not yet being restored to their pre-pandemic levels, and higher costs above all. One particular country case-study that breaks this “national security laws” narrative, however, is the trend of Republic of Korea tourism, which, through being regional, has more cost advantages than the West.
Although multiple articles appearing in 2023 opportunistically stated that “anti-China” sentiment was keeping Republic of Korea residents away from the city, in March the South China Morning Post stated 100,022 Republic of Korea residents visited Hong Kong in January, a return to 84 percent of the pre-pandemic total and 25 percent of 2023’s total in one go. Authorities stated that a marketing campaign to attract Republic of Korea residents to the city was the key to its success. After all, it should not be forgotten that the Republic of Korea has its own national security laws. If you publicly praise or advocate for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, you can go to prison. Therefore, why would Republic of Korea residents be afraid of Hong Kong?
The mainstream Western media narrative, again, frames the city in dystopian terms, they want to create the impression: People believe they will be indiscriminately targeted or arrested for nothing. This is ludicrous. A more telling fact, however, that came out recently challenging this narrative was the number of Hong Kong residents who during a recent holiday traveled to the Chinese mainland. In March, 9.3 million trips were made out of the city and into the mainland, finally taking advantage of the ability to travel freely again as travel returns to normal. While Bloomberg News laughably attempted to frame this negatively, calling it an “exodus”, I retorted by saying that if Hong Kong residents are visiting the mainland, doesn’t that mean they aren’t as opposed to the mainland as the mainstream Western media claim? And therefore, they have no appetite to vacate to Britain?
As a British citizen myself, I after all must question the logic of some Hong Kong residents leaving their city for the United Kingdom. As much as I love my country, I am under no illusions regarding the economically abysmal state of Britain right now, which consists of a stagnant economy, surging inflation and crumbling public services. It is sad, but the country is long past its best, and things are going backward. Thus, it is also little surprise to me that for the vast majority of Hong Kong residents, this option is fundamentally silly. The city has undoubtedly experienced its fair share of struggles, yet, unarguably, it is on the right track again, and more should be done to fight this silly narrative of a “dystopia” under the national security laws. Seemingly, it isn’t bad enough to put people off from moving there from overseas.
The author is a British political and international-relations analyst.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
