By William Walker.
Since British sovereignty was relinquished in 1997 Hong Kong has become somewhat of an envy for the many onlookers of the so-close, yet so-far mainland. As a Special Administrative Region, it can effectively govern itself, and the city-state is not quite so rigidly bound by the laws that govern it’s Communist cousins, as it often boasts of its constitutional ‘high degree of autonomy’.
It is easy to imagine how those living beyond the booming wealth of nearby Shenzhen and Guangzhou might be somewhat green-eyed at Hong Kong’s relatively liberal media, expanding economy, high quality of life and considerably larger life expectancy (ranked 2nd in the world by UN estimates).
Concentrating wealth in the neighbouring region of Guangdong has apparently failed as an effective binary as according to government figures almost half of all births in Hong Kong were from mothers from the mainland. New proposals will restrict Chinese mothers who do not have, as a minimum, a Hong Kong husband from using public hospitals to come to term, and private hospitals are expected to follow suit.
Elected Chief Executive CY Leung who will take office from July is determined to prohibit ‘baby tourism’, a popular move with many in Hong Kong who fear a massive rise in the already swelling population and are dissatisfied with the currently-in-place birth quotas. Leung is keen to appease his supporters and is going further with proposals that will repeal the automatic eligibility for citizenship based on simple geography. Unless at least one parent is a Hong Kong resident the child will not be considered for automatic citizenship following this move.
The biggest critics of these proposals are the doctors and hospitals, who initially opposed the quotas on both financial and ethical grounds. “It should not be an abrupt U-turn” Private Hospital Association chairman Alan Lau told RTHK radio amidst worries that following heavy expansion of their obstetric service in order to meet the increased demand they will struggle to recover their investments.
It seems that despite Hong Kong’s many democratic advances the ultimate say remains with Leung, and recent protests in the city on the issue together with the weight of public opinion will ultimately force the hand of its health care executives, and mothers seeking to escape the one-child policy or some of China’s many social problems will find no shelter over the water.
