ad info




Asiaweek
 home
 intelligence
 web features
 magazine archive
 technology
 newsmap
 customer service
 subscribe
 TIMEASIA.COM
 CNN.COM
  east asia
  southeast asia
  south asia
  central asia
  australasia
 BUSINESS
 SPORTS
 SHOWBIZ
 ASIA WEATHER
 ASIA TRAVEL


Web-only Exclusives
November 30, 2000

From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War
A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix

From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead
Bad news for the Philippines - and some others

From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies
Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights?

Asiaweek Time Asia Now Asiaweek story

FRESH FUROR OVER MIGRANTS

Officials see 1.67 million settlers from China


SCHOOL CLASSROOMS BURSTING WITH students, public hospitals forced to turn away the sick, unemployment reaching depression levels, an endless waiting list for public housing. That was the grim picture of Hong Kong's near future that was painted last week by senior local officials - if every Chinese with legal right of abode were to move there in the next few years.

Sparking a fresh furor over immigration was the government's official estimate that more than 1.67 million mainland Chinese are entitled to live in Hong Kong under a landmark January ruling by the local Court of Final Appeal (CFA). The figure is much higher than previous calculations. According to the authorities, nearly 700,000 people could move over immediately. Another million "second-generation" migrants would become eligible after their parents obtained permanent-resident status over the next seven years.

Authorities described the potential new citizens as mostly young (though 70% are over 20), unskilled and poorly educated. Their arrival would place huge burdens on Hong Kong's social system while increasing competition for jobs at the lower levels - all at a time of severe recession. However, a formal estimate of the impact was postponed for a week.

The survey is the latest aftershock from the CFA verdict, which overturned a Hong Kong law restricting immigration. It has raised again the question of whether the territory should live with the ruling and accept the consequences, or try to "fix" the problem by changing the ruling. And how could that be done without damaging the rule of law or the independent judiciary that are pillars of Hong Kong's success?

As in January, murmurs have arisen that the CFA made "a mistake." At issue this time is not China's sovereign authority, but whether the ruling was too generous in granting abode rights to the illegitimate children of Hong Kongers, as well as those born before their parents had secured local permanent residency. The two categories account for nearly 90% of the 1.67-million estimate.

How to respond to the influx has divided Hong Kong along familiar lines. Pro-democracy groups, keen to defend judicial independence, advocate amending the local Basic Law. They oppose any effort to reinterpret the ruling, either by the CFA itself or by China's National People's Congress (NPC). "Under common law, final court [judgment] is final," says Democratic Party leader Martin Lee. "If you don't like it, you can only amend the law."

Some people fear that revising the Basic Law to curtail migration would take too long. They prefer to send the matter to NPC authorities for a reinterpretation. Pro-Beijing legislator Tsang Yok-sing says such a course would be "normal practice." But that too could be troublesome. How final would be the CFA's judgments be if unpopular rulings were regularly referred to the higher national authority?

There were claims the government was manipulating the data to scare the community into seeking a change in the ruling. "It goes against common sense that the number of illegitimate children are 2.3 times that of legitimate ones," says Wong Shui-ying of the Parents' Association for Right of Abode. The government's survey of 10,000 local residents was bound to be inconclusive, the skeptics add. As Hong Kong faced some difficult decisions, the debate over what shape they should take looked set to intensify.

- By Todd Crowell and Yulanda Chung/Hong Kong


This edition's table of contents | Asiaweek home

AsiaNow


   LATEST HEADLINES:

WASHINGTON
U.S. secretary of state says China should be 'tolerant'

MANILA
Philippine government denies Estrada's claim to presidency

ALLAHABAD
Faith, madness, magic mix at sacred Hindu festival

COLOMBO
Land mine explosion kills 11 Sri Lankan soldiers

TOKYO
Japan claims StarLink found in U.S. corn sample

BANGKOK
Thai party announces first coalition partner



TIME:

COVER: President Joseph Estrada gives in to the chanting crowds on the streets of Manila and agrees to make room for his Vice President

THAILAND: Twin teenage warriors turn themselves in to Bangkok officials

CHINA: Despite official vilification, hip Chinese dig Lamaist culture

PHOTO ESSAY: Estrada Calls Snap Election

WEB-ONLY INTERVIEW: Jimmy Lai on feeling lucky -- and why he's committed to the island state



ASIAWEEK:

COVER: The DoCoMo generation - Japan's leading mobile phone company goes global

Bandwidth Boom: Racing to wire - how underseas cable systems may yet fall short

TAIWAN: Party intrigues add to Chen Shui-bian's woes

JAPAN: Japan's ruling party crushes a rebel ì at a cost

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans need to have more babies. But success breeds selfishness


Launch CNN's Desktop Ticker and get the latest news, delivered right on your desktop!

Today on CNN
 Search

Back to the top   © 2000 Asiaweek. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.

ÿ