South China Morning Post:

Has the central government noticed or become concerned about an "emigration wave" in Hong Kong? In the past year, more than 110,000 local residents left Hong Kong, and the city's population dropped by 1.6%. Many of them left by joining the immigration programs launched by foreign countries for Hong Kong residents. Meanwhile, some foreign talents also chose to leave Hong Kong. What is the central government's expectation for the current chief executive to keep local and foreign talents staying in Hong Kong? Thank you.

Huang Liuquan:

Thank you for your questions. I have also seen such reports from Hong Kong media recently, and many are paying attention to the so-called "emigration wave." The data you mentioned above was also cited by Hong Kong media and attracted my curiosity. I later found these figures were cited from a report released by Hong Kong's Census and Statistics Department. Here, I would like to share with you the detailed numbers.

According to the report, the provisional estimate of the Hong Kong population was 7.2916 million in mid-2022. Among them, 7.1819 million were usual residents and 109,700 were mobile residents. From mid-2021 to mid-2022, 18,300 people settled in Hong Kong with One-way Permits, while 113,200 Hong Kong residents left the city, which is what you just mentioned. Besides, new births and deaths were 35,100 and 61,600 during the period, respectively. According to the above data, we cannot conclude that the reduction of the Hong Kong population was due to an emigration wave, as there are many other factors contributing to the decrease. As a spokesperson from the HKSAR government explained, "there is no direct statistical figure on emigrants. As an international hub, Hong Kong has high population mobility all the time. Over the past decade, Hong Kong residents, excluding One-way Permit holders, have seen a net outflow in most years." Therefore, according to the demographic data released by the HKSAR government and the spokesperson's explanation, it's not appropriate to conclude that there emerged an emigration wave in Hong Kong.

At present, Hong Kong has been in a critical stage from chaos to order and prosperity, and Hong Kong society is full of expectations for the city's future development. The central government will stay committed to supporting wider and closer communication and cooperation between Hong Kong, the mainland, and the rest of the world. I also noted that the spokesperson of the HKSAR government has actively responded to the concerns from all walks of life, saying that "the HKSAR government will continue to encourage talented people both at home and abroad to settle in Hong Kong and facilitate mobility of talented people in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao GBA." The HKSAR government is taking active measures to attract talents to the city. Therefore, I believe that Hong Kong's highly free, open, and well-regulated business environment, its smooth and convenient communication with the rest of the world, its common law system and low tax policy, the fusion of Western and Chinese cultures there, and in particular, its geographical advantages manifested in its close connection with the world market and the strong support from the motherland, will surely attract more talent to realize their aspirations in Hong Kong. Thank you.