HK Borders May Lift a Year from Now

There could be a lot more expats leaving HK next year

When is Hong Kong going to lift its borders? This is the constant question asked by everyone everyday and people's patience is wearing thin.

Up until yesterday many of us were led to believe things would slowly get back to "normal" after the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022. A few months from now, OK understandable from the Chinese capital's perspective desperate to have zero cases and zero disruptions.

But yesterday the Financial Post was reporting opening the border would happen in November 2022, just over a year from now. Another at least 365 days.

People are getting tired of no no-quarantine travel

A massive collective groan could be heard all over the city when people read this.

The reasoning?

"A significant outbreak in China or Hong Kong would also be politically sensitive, as Beijing prepares to host the Winter Olympics in February and President Xi Jinping seeks to secure a third term in power later next year. Hong Kong will also hold a leadership election in March and mark 25 years since the handover from British to Chinese rule of the city in July," the report says.

And here's the kicker:

"The new policy is expected to last into 2022 -- possibly until after the Chinese Communist party congress in November, according to one Chinese government official -- and authorities have not proposed any timeline for loosening the rules."

What does this mean?

A lot of expats who were thinking about possibly leaving next year are probably going to make the move, fed up with the government not rewarding residents for getting vaccinated to make it easier for them to travel, or their work is travel-related and they need to get on with it, or they want to see their loved ones but not be penalized by having to do up to 21 days' quarantine in a hotel room they have to pay for and not be sure of the conditions of the room or the food, or possibly catch the virus while in quarantine.

Lam aligning Hong Kong with China, zero-Covid

Or perhaps as someone suggested on Twitter, this was a non-political way for the Hong Kong government to get rid of expats to make the city more of a mainland one.

Various western chambers of commerce have had talks with the government, trying to persuade it to lift the quarantine restrictions to a maximum of 14 days and open the borders to other countries, but earlier this month, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said Hong Kong's ties with the mainland are more important than international business and global travel connections. 

So there it is, Hong Kong's determination, or rather Lam's determination to stand with China on all things Covid, which means following Beijing's zero-Covid goal.

As they say, "If you don't like it, leave", and many people may do just that.