The United Kingdom: a land of broken promises

Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

The grass is not greener on the other side of the fence as many emigrants have found out. It doesn’t matter which country they plan to settle; the story is the same for most: desperation and hardship.

There have been stories of successes as the Chinese have been known for their tendency to emigrate to every corner of the world. There are Chinese restaurants and market gardens everywhere and many have even been admitted into local legislatures. There are also Hongkongers in academia and various professions taking up key positions in local communities.
But there have also been stories of hardships.

Hong Kong’s population stood at 7.1 million in 2010. Today it is officially 7.4 million and would have been more if there was not a dip of 0.9 per cent in the 2019-20 period when Hong Kong experienced devastating riots and social unrest. Many fled to the US, Canada, Australia and the UK for various reasons including searching of a better life or escaping prosecution for criminal offences relating to the riots. Others left to seek a better life abroad or to follow their loved ones.

Immigration lawyers rose like mushrooms in a damp paddock ready to sap a lucrative market seeking a new home in a far away place. And foreign governments could see the potential of a highly regarded workforce to bolster their economies. It appeared to be an ideal formula of supply and demand. But that was not to be.

Many who fled to the UK in the 2019-21 period arrived at a time when unemployment had reached 4.7 per cent so jobs in the promised land were not available. In fact, many were shunned as noted in a survey that the National Health Service (NHS) was facing severe staff shortages while Hong Kong medical professionals were Uber drivers.

Hongkongers who fled to the UK faced many problems, the greatest being language, followed by financial difficulties due to lack of work or low paying jobs.

The British think tank, British Future and its companion Welcoming Committee for Hong Kongers (WC4HK), had carried out a survey among arrivals from Hong Kong and found life in the promised land was not a bed of roses for the newcomers. They found the costs of council tax, energy bills and public transportation unexpectedly high. The useless British National (Overseas)BN(O) passport holders faced financial challenges due to their visa status, including lack of credit history, the NHS surcharge and difficulties accessing their Hong Kong pension.

Most of the participants interviewed by the WC4HK had not achieved a degree to fit with their previous jobs in Hong Kong. It was more common for the new arrivals to be working in both a different sector, and at a lower skilled level. For example an editor is now working as a waitress at events, an insurance accounts manager in a shipping firm is working in a warehouse as a picker and packer, an accountant is now working as a chef and was previously in retail and hotel work, a journalist who searched unsuccessfully for clerical work, is now working as a chef, a primary school teacher is now working in a nursing home, a construction manager is now doing freelance translation work, a marketing manager is now unemployed after working part-time in a beverage shop, a manager in a toy manufacturing company is now working on data input, a civil servant is now working as a security guard in a prison, and a director’s secretary is now working in two cleaning jobs. They are all square pegs in a round hole.

In January 2021, the British, in an effort to entice more Hong Kong people to the UK, introduced special immigration visas available to 5.4 million residents in its former colony. It was a flop!
Some 144,500 Hongkongers took up the new visa offer during the two years after the scheme was introduced. The scheme allowed BN(O) passport holders and their dependents to live and work in the UK for up to five years with the goal towards permanent residency and citizenship.

Adults born after 1997 can also apply on their own if one of their parents is a BN(O) holder.
But the Brits are putting up a brave face. British politician Robert Jenrick said last year when he was Immigration Minister that the policy allowed Hongkongers to “enjoy all the freedoms that we enjoy here [UK].” Actually, they are the very same freedoms enjoyed in Hong Kong.

And, unashamedly, he added, “Many Hongkongers have said that living in Britain is like coming home. The UK is proud to have welcomed 144,500 people from Hong Kong since the launch of the new BN(O) visa launch.”

Obviously, Mr Jenrick has not read the report from the Welcoming Committee for Hongkongers on the gripes Hongkongers have about the UK. And a success rate of 2.27 percent of the 5.4 million eligible to take up the offer is hardly something to crow about.

Mark Pinkstone

** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **

Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

US President Donald Trump has started an international biased war on trade; biased in a way that places like Hong Kong are being penalised even though they have a deficit trade balance with the US.

The US goods trade surplus with Hong Kong was US$21.9 billion in 2024, a 7.6 per cent increase over 2023.

Yet, Hong Kong has long been considered a separate customs territory from the mainland of China as stipulated in the Basic Law and by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) before and after the Handover in 1997. It also enjoyed preferential treatment from the US in terms of trade and economy under US law since 1992. But Trump put an end to that with an executive order in his first term of office in 2019 when he sided with the rioters in Hong Kong.

Total goods traded between the US and Hong Kong last year totalled US$33.8 billion. US exports to Hong Kong were US$27.9 billion while Hong Kong exports to the US totalled only $6 billion, thus the near US$22 billion surplus in favour of the US.

By wrongfully lumping Hong Kong’s trade figures with that of the mainland, Hong Kong is being penalised by the US for something it hasn’t done.

Trade lecturer at City University of Hong Kong, Julien Chaisse, has been quoted in the local press as saying “Hong Kong is in a tough spot. The US no longer treats Hong Kong as a separate from the mainland, which strips away any trade advantages we once had.”

Hong Kong has, naturally, lodged a complaint against the US with the WTO. A spokesman for the Special Administration Region (SAR) Government of Hong Kong, said “The US measures are grossly inconsistent of the relevant WTO rules and ignore our status as a separate customs territory as stipulated in Article 116 of the Basic Law and recognized by the WTO.”

The HKSAR Government will formally launch procedures in accordance with the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism against the US’ unreasonable measures to defend our legitimate rights.

However, although the WTO is an independent body it is currently being controlled by the US.

Traditionally the Appellate Court of the WTO adjudicates disputes between member states, but it is currently composed of only one judge. In normal circumstances, the court has seven judges, but a minimum of three is required for a quorum. The appellate body fell to one judge on December 10 last year when member states failed to make new appointments. That in turn has halted all appeal judgements on trade matters until a new solution is reached. Also, the US has  threatened to block the  body’s budget.  So, even though both China and Hong Kong, plus many other member states, have lodged complaints against the US for its tariffs war, very little can be done until more judges are appointed. And that could take ages as such appointments will continue to be blocked by the US.

It is well recognized that there are no winners in trade wars, and it is the little man, the man in the street who suffers as the tariffs are passed down the line to the consumer, thus causing inflation to rise. But Trump thinks nought for the little man, only himself.

The Chinese ambassador to the US, Xie Feng, also believes there are no winners in trade wars nor in wars over science, technology or industry. Differences, he said between the two nations should be the driving force for exchanges and mutual learning rather than “the excuse for rejection and confrontation and that successes of each were opportunities for the other.”

On the sidelines of last week’s National Peoples’ Congress in Beijing, China’s commerce minister Wang Wentao, hit back at Trump saying that coercion and threats would not work on China, nor would they scare China. “China’s determination to defend its own interests is unswerving. There are no winners in a trade war.

“If the American side goes further down this wrong path, we will fight to the end,” he warned.

China is the main trading partner in 140 countries and has free trade agreements (FTAs) with 30. And it is ready to sign even more FTAs to minimize the impact of restrictions imposed by the US.

So, China as perhaps the world’s largest trading partner and a key cog in the supply chain mechanism, the US bullying tactics would have little impact on China’s Gross Domestic Product by as little as 1 per cent, even if the tariffs went as high as 60 per cent.