Thread by @WilliamYang120

A timely and important piece in @ForeignPolicy by @lnachman32 and his team, including a survey result that shows #Taiwan is the No.1 destination for #HongKong people hoping to emigrate abroad. Canada and Australia are second and third.

foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/08/hon…

The finding shows that almost half of people in #HongKong surveyed are thinking about leaving. Around 29% of those are thinking about moving to #Taiwan, 15% of those want to move to Canada and 13% of them want to move to Australia.

Despite the "lifeboat" program for all BNO passport holders, only about 10% of the #HongKong people surveyed want to move to the UK. Around 12% of them want to move to #China.

"One possible reason for the U.K.’s low ranking is that Johnson’s program only allows for BNO passport-holders, most of whom are older. Younger Hong Kongers born after the handover in 1997 may find the U.K. less appealing because they lack that passport status."

Another strong indicator is that with the high interest among #HongKong people surveyed to move to #Taiwan, #Taiwan government will need more robust program in place to deal with the potentially high volume of influx of #HK people.

"If interest in Taiwan materializes, Tsai will need to make Taiwan’s new HK assistance office even more robust. Fortunately, the issue of HK has been viewed with more consensus across party lines, with the pro-Beijing #KMT even supporting legislation to help HKers flee to Taiwan.