It’s no secret that Americans have fled Hong Kong in recent years, as Beijing has undone the city’s former autonomy and subsequently imposed a series of draconian Covid controls.
Earlier today, Washington’s top envoy in Hong Kong, Greg May, offered a statistic that quantifies just how significantly the Chinese Communist Party’s conduct has degraded the city’s reputation as an international business hub. About 15,000 Americans have left Hong Kong in the past two years, May said at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies today. He said that figure represents about 20 percent of the 2019 American population of the city.
Greg May @USAinHKMacau estimated that 15,000 Americans have left Hong Kong for various reasons in the last two years.
He added that those 15,000 would have represented 20% of the 2019 population of Americans in the city. https://t.co/NkNUpStoxH pic.twitter.com/nApVZp3zgb
— Aaron Mc Nicholas (@aaronMCN) January 25, 2023
No doubt, Beijing’s ongoing persecution campaign against Jimmy Lai, other champions of democracy, and independent media contributed significantly to the exodus, in addition to Zero-Covid-style policies. And if Chinese officials can order the arbitrary arrest of two Canadians on fabricated charges, can any American expat in Hong Kong really consider himself safe post-2020?
Capricious government policies paired with the Hong Kong authorities’ increasingly frank form of authoritarian repression make for an incredibly unwelcoming business environment and put Americans at risk. The apparent exodus suggests that some American companies are gradually coming to grips with that reality.