C.Y. Leung promises to ban mainland mothers

[evgreen]

http://rthk.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/20120416/news_20120416_56_833566.htm

It's a slippery slope and it infuriates me! It's easy to ride on the public's anti-mainland sentiment to boost your popularity rating. It's easy to say - let's ban them and deny them residency rights! The truth is, what Hong Kong needs is more hospital beds and more staff in the long run and this takes immense planning. Hong Kong's birth rate is one of the lowest in the world and the only way to stay on the upward trend is to welcome immigration and naturalization. Who's to say that other non-Hong Kongers won't be revoked of the same rights next?

Excuse my French, but isn't this chicken s***just taking the easy way out?

 

[2010-NewDad]

Hong Kong is pretty crowded at the moment. I am not sure why we need the population to stay on an upward trend, indeed it might be a lot better for residents if the net migration was reversed and the population here started to drop?

 

[elle]

The truth is, what Hong Kong needs is more hospital beds and more staff in the long run and this takes immense planning. Hong Kong's birth rate is one of the lowest in the world and the only way to stay on the upward trend is to welcome immigration and naturalization. Who's to say that other non-Hong Kongers won't be revoked of the same rights next?

I honestly don't agree. Immigration and naturalization are fine, but there are ways to do that other than letting mainland mothers give birth here - for example increase the number of immigrants eligible for the QMAS scheme or implement a similar policy for mainland residents. HK currently has adequate hospital beds for its own residents - the issue is entirely with non-residents being permitted to give birth here. Other countries don't allow non-residents without residency visas or other rights to show up and have babies and I don't think HK should be any different. Encourage immigration through other policies and then let the legal residents have their own kids here. Under the current policy, mainland kids born in HK will have the right to return when they are 18 - but HK won't have an influence on what education, etc. they have before returning to HK and there is a real risk of undereducated and underskilled young adults relocating to HK and automatically being eligible for public benefits that are better that what they would get in mainland China without contributing significantly to the economy.

 

[carang]

they are making exceptions for wives of permanent residents, as they should... but really, i don't see why hk should allow people to come here just to give birth...and then to be expected to allow those same people to return and make use of the rest of the social net, local education etc...

http://rthk.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/20120416/news_20120416_56_833566.htm

It's a slippery slope and it infuriates me! It's easy to ride on the public's anti-mainland sentiment to boost your popularity rating. It's easy to say - let's ban them and deny them residency rights! The truth is, what Hong Kong needs is more hospital beds and more staff in the long run and this takes immense planning. Hong Kong's birth rate is one of the lowest in the world and the only way to stay on the upward trend is to welcome immigration and naturalization. Who's to say that other non-Hong Kongers won't be revoked of the same rights next?

Excuse my French, but isn't this chicken s***just taking the easy way out?

 

[charade]

My position on this is:
1. Wives of Hong Kong men should be allowed to give birth here. It is really sad that wives of other nationalities can give birth here but if the wife happens to be a mainlander she gets put in other category.
2. Something needs to be done to curb mainland women flooding here to give birth in public hospitals in particular. I think the main draw is residency and tackling that is the only way to stop the flood. I read research once that found that many of the mainland children born here don't really come back to contribute as young adults so it seems like an ineffective way of tackling the aging population problem. Securing quality immigration later on might be the way to go as elle suggested.
3. My concern with ordering private hospitals not to accept mainland women is that it seems like a slippery slope. How can the government dictate who the clients of a private enterprise should not be? And is is legally ok to ban just one nationality of private clients.

 

[evgreen]

Hong kong's aging population is a cause for concern. Coupled with a low birth rate, this spells disaster for the government which they cannot support. Public healthcare is practically free - for now. The trend of public finances,however, cannot keep it that way for very much longer. Yes, there are a lot of people in HK, and a disproportionate percentage of that is over 65...within 20 years, they will be 25% of HK's population. Encouraging immigration and naturalization is one way to cope with this. In addition, a reform of hong kong's welfare and healthcare system is needed to tackle the issue. Saying a blanket statement that mainland mothers should be banned from giving birth is the easy way out and does not address the deeper seated issues which we are facing and will face in the long term.

 

[evgreen]

Charade, you have some very valid points. The draw to hong kong hospitals is not only the issue of residency, but also the knock effect of china's one child policy and overall better healthcare in HK.

 

[jt06]

Immigration into Hong Kong should be controlled. There should be a way for the government to choose who gets to immigrate to HK. The problem with Mainland mothers giving birth here and their kids automatically getting HK residency is that we have no control on who gets HK residency whatsoever - as long as the babies are born in HK, they get permanent residency. And it's not true that they are only permitted to come back when they're 18. They're permitted to stay here and receive education / welfare as soon as they're born. Many already cross the boarders every day to go to kindergartens / primary schools (over 10,000). "Birth tourism" should not be how we regulate immigration, because that's like no regulation at all.

Also, only Mainland parents whose kids are born in HK can get HK permanent residency at birth. Foreign parents' kids cannot. So, the problem is focused on Mainland parents.

 

[thanka2]

Medical tourism is one thing. People travel all over for medical reasons but they don't get citizenship or residency in a country just because they give birth there. So, sure, let the Mainland women (or women from all over) come to Hong Kong to give birth if they want to contribute to the economy in that way. Let them pay top dollar for medical care. But, don't grant them residency just because they darken the city gates. Totally different situation with Hong Kong men married to Mainland women--in that case the men should apply for dependent residency for their wives. However because of immigration fraud, I can understand why there are quotas and wait-times. It's the same in North America--it's not always easy to get into a country just because you're married to a person from there--especially if your particular place of origin has a high incidence of immigration fraud.

Anyway. I'm not upset about the intent of C.Y. Leung's proposal--it should be tempered with long-term plans to come up with a solution to the city's population and medical services needs, though.

 

[evgreen]

it's quite sad that hk's legislation system seems to be so short sighted most of the time. i hope this changes soon.