Push to ease births curb on mainlanders

Stacy Shi

Hong Kong should again allow mainland women whose spouses are not permanent residents to give birth in the city with the aim of increasing the population to 10 million in a decade, Election Committee lawmaker Dennis Lam Shun-chiu has suggested.

Lam and fellow delegates to the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference yesterday met Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, who is conducting consultation sessions for his third policy address.

With Hong Kong's fertility rate at 0.8, one of the lowest in the world, and facing an aging population, Lam urged the administration to step up research into promoting population growth and the demographic structure of the younger generation.

"If Hong Kong wants to maintain competitiveness, it needs to formulate a long-term plan to boost the population to 10 million within 10 years so as to promote sustainable economic growth," he said while pointing out that the mainland's international financial hubs, Beijing and Shanghai, each have populations of more than 20 million.

Lam also suggested that while continuing to attract overseas talent, the administration should study relaunching a policy to allow nonpermanent residents to give birth in Hong Kong, and ensuring that the children would not become a burden on public services.

But the increase in nonpermanent resident children since 2005 has sparked discontent among permanent residents, who said they were straining resources such as health care and education.

The problem was alleviated as former chief executive Leung Chun-ying introduced the "zero quota" policy in 2013, to prohibit nonlocal pregnant women from making delivery bookings.

Lam hoped that a revised policy would ensure that parents are financially able to raise their children until the age of 18 and should be modeled on the New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme, which requires parents to have invested assets in Hong Kong.

Additionally, he proposed the development of medical tourism, saying that Hong Kong has the potential to become Asia's leader in medical tourism with its high-level medical care and international tourism.

He also suggested that each Greater Bay Area city should set up a Hong Kong-funded hospital similar to the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, to facilitate 550,000 permanent Hong Kong residents in the GBA.

Starry Lee Wai-king, the sole Hong Kong deputy of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, meanwhile said they are concerned about border crossings, hoping the administration would resume the issuance of "multiple-entry" permits, and suggested increasing local medical manpower.

stacy.shi@singtaonewscorp.com