Media: The criticism of Hong Kong is self defeating, and "Hong Kong snatched 60000 people within six months" has attracted attention. Introduction | News | Hong Kong
In recent years, there have been numerous news reports about the "people grabbing war" across the country, and a news that "Hong Kong snatched 60000 people within six months" has recently attracted attention.
Previously, Hong Kong Chief Executive Lee Ka chao proposed multiple "talent grabbing" measures in his first policy address during his tenure, including the establishment of a "talent service window", where the Secretary for Administration of the Special Administrative Region Government is responsible for formulating and coordinating strategies and work to attract talents from both the mainland and overseas, providing "one-stop" support to talents coming to Hong Kong, launching the "High end Talent Pass Plan", optimizing existing talent import programs, and enhancing attractiveness.
Nowadays, various "talent grabbing" measures in Hong Kong have been officially launched for more than half a year, and multiple official statistical data are gradually being released.
On July 14th, Sun Yuhan, Secretary for Labour and Welfare of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, stated at a symposium that a series of talent recruitment measures announced in last year's Policy Address have been implemented since December 28th, including the implementation of a new "High end Talent Pass Plan" aimed at high paying and highly educated talents, as well as the optimization of various existing talent import plans.
Sun Yuhan stated that as of June 30 this year, over 100000 applications have been received for various talent input programs, and the Immigration Department has approved approximately 61000 applications. The "Gaocai Tong Plan" has received particularly enthusiastic responses, with over 36000 applications and approximately 26000 approvals so far.
From the official announcement data above, it can be seen that after the implementation of various "talent grabbing" measures in Hong Kong, about 61000 applications have been approved within the first half of this year, which is about 1.7 times its annual target of importing 35000 talents. In response, Li Jiachao also stated in a recent speech at a summit forum, "It fully demonstrates Hong Kong's attractiveness to global talent."
Among various measures to compete for talent, Hong Kong's newly launched "Gao Cai Tong Plan" at the end of last year is particularly eye-catching.
At the end of 2022, the two-year "Gao Cai Tong Plan" will begin accepting applications. Eligible talents include individuals with an annual salary of HKD 2.5 million or more in the past year, as well as individuals who have graduated from the top 100 universities worldwide and accumulated 3 or more years of work experience in the past 5 years. Sun Yuhan previously mentioned that the "Gaocai Tong Plan" has received over 5300 applications about two weeks after its launch, with an average of 350 to 400 applications per day, of which about 60% have been approved, and the response from all sectors is enthusiastic.
The number of applicants for Hong Kong's previously established talent entry program has also increased significantly compared to last year.
According to data recently released by the Immigration Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, a total of 7022 applications for the Youcai Plan were approved from January to June this year, compared to 2845 applications approved for the entire year last year. Among them, from the perspective of the applicant's region, the main approved applications in the first half of this year came from mainland China, with a total of 6909 cases, compared to 2719 cases last year.
In response, an article published by the Economic Daily commented that "60000 talents" have crossed the Xiangjiang River, making various criticisms of Hong Kong's decline self-evident. In recent years, due to the impact of the pandemic and slow global economic recovery, Hong Kong has experienced a decline in population, slow economic growth, and a decrease in capital market financing. For a while, various theories such as "capital flight theory", "talent loss theory", and "weakened financial center status theory" have reappeared. For an international city, population mobility and economic fluctuations are normal phenomena, and talent is an indicator of core competitiveness. The talent introduction figures prove that Hong Kong still maintains strong competitiveness and attractiveness.