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VOA: More and More Hong Kong People Choose to Immigrate to Taiwan

Although the current number is still not large, more and more of Hong Kong’s people are moving to Taiwan to find a new life and place for themselves. According to Taiwan’s official data, the number of Hong Kong and Macao residents who obtained Taiwan resident status last year was more than double what it was 10 years ago. Since the umbrella movement in Hong Kong in 2014, the number of Hong Kong people who are migrating to Taiwan has been increasing. When the Hong Kong government recently attempted to revise the “Extradition Law,” millions of Hong Kong residents showed resistance. The number of people who have inquired about migration to Taiwan showed an “explosive growth.”

According to statistics from the Taiwan Immigration Department, there were about 700 Hong Kong residents who obtained Taiwan resident status in 2014. In 2016, the number went up to 1,086 people. For the past two years, the number has held steady at more than 1,000 people every year. Lin Yaozong, head of the Hong Kong immigration company in Hong Kong, said in an interview with Voice of America that, during the umbrella movement in 2014, there was a wave of Hong Kong people migrating to Taiwan. After Carrie Lam was elected as the Chief Executive, the number of applicants dropped. The decline was believed to be due to the fact that many Hong Kong people were waiting to see how Carrie Lam managed Hong Kong. After they discovered that Carrie Lam was only there to repeat the previous system, the desire of Hong Kong’s people to immigrate to Taiwan increased again. After 2018, the Hong Kong people’s immigration to Taiwan accelerated. He said that, especially in the past two months, the popularity of consulting about immigration to Taiwan has risen sharply, showing a “phenomenal growth.”

According to a poll that the Chinese University of Hong Kong released earlier this year, more than 30 percent of respondents said that Taiwan would be the third most popular location if they had the opportunity to migrate, second only to Canada and Australia. The reasons for migrating include that there are too many political disputes and social problems in Hong Kong, along with overcrowded living conditions, high housing prices, a lack of democracy, and an unsatisfactory political system.

Source: Voice of America, July 1, 2019
https://www.voachinese.com/a/hong-kong-taiwan-immigration/4979467.html