Hong Kong-mainland border: reopening will be a welcome boost to lives and livelihoods, but challenges remain
- Even a limited reopening between Hong Kong and Guangdong next month will be a relief for struggling businesses and cross-border families
- Privacy concerns aside, officials should also consider the practical challenges faced by the elderly in using health code apps on smartphones
This has caused tremendous stress among members of the business community and local residents who have businesses or family ties on the mainland.
If you are an ordinary salaried worker, you could potentially risk losing your job if you have to undergo a lengthy quarantine period both on entering the mainland and returning to Hong Kong because you want to visit your family across the border. Now, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has also said the reopening could be gradual. However, according to local media reports, while there will be quarantine-free travel, it will initially be limited to between Hong Kong and Guangdong, with Shenzhen serving as the key border point.
That would be a great Christmas gift for Hong Kong and would provide a much-needed boost to the local economy.
Although the initial phase would only cover travel to Guangdong, this would still be a huge relief to many of the more than 550,000 Hong Kong residents who usually reside in the mainland province, according to Census and Statistics Department data.
Privacy issues aside, officials should consider the practical technological challenges faced by elderly people if using a smartphone and an app is the only way to satisfy the mainland’s health coding requirements.
On the mainland, elderly citizens often have the option of going through special assistance lanes where their ID cards can be scanned for health code information. Perhaps a similar mechanism can be extended to retired people who live in Guangdong but have family ties in Hong Kong. Otherwise, they might not benefit from the border reopening.
The governments on both sides of the border have made great strides in controlling the pandemic, in the face of highly contagious Covid-19 variants. With all systems in place, a gradual approach is the best way to ensure a smooth full border reopening, which will be great news for people’s lives and livelihoods. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
Ken Chu is group chairman and CEO of Mission Hills Group and a national committee member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference