More than 31,000 foreigners applied for work visas to stay in Hong Kong last year, double the figure recorded five years earlier, as the city's low-tax regime, opportunities and booming initial public offering (IPO) market continue to attract foreign professionals and white-collar workers, according to Bloomberg.
The number of work visas for foreign professionals in the financial sector jumped 17% last year, reaching the highest level since 2022.
Brandon Zatt, an American involved in digital assets and cultural exchange, told Wen Wei Po on Aug. 7 that he had heard some senior Western executives say HK was "over".
"They missed opportunities again and again," he said.
Zatt said HK remained a bridge connecting the mainland with the rest of the world, with opportunities across the city. Its resilience, he stressed, was not a matter of window dressing but a fact.
Data from the Immigration Department also showed that approvals under the General Employment Policy, which is available to foreign professionals and talent, have continued to rise in recent years, with 13,640 applications approved in the first half of this year.
Foreign investors putting real money into HK and foreign professionals choosing to come and work in the city have provided tangible evidence challenging the "Hong Kong of old is over" narrative advanced by Stephen Roach, former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and a US economist.
In response to an inquiry from Wen Wei Po, the Immigration Department said the number of applications approved under the General Employment Policy from 2021 to June this year stood at 13,821, 13,495, 26,270, 35,058, 31,278 and 13,640 respectively.
HK IPOs attract sovereign wealth funds from three continents
Zatt, an American who has lived and worked in Greater China for 28 years, said he had witnessed every major shock faced by HK but had never seen the city collapse.
He said Roach's notion of "Hong Kong of old" was based on a misconception. The city had never been static, he said, but had always served as a bridge and adapted to the terrain it connected.
Zatt identified what he called Roach's first mistake: the recovery of HK's IPO market was not a sign of dependence, but a sign of its function.
Every mature financial centre, he said, depends on an economic hinterland. "New York's hinterland is the US, London's hinterland is Europe, while HK's hinterland happens to be the world's second-largest economy—the Chinese mainland. The hinterland should never be understood as a burden."
The data, he said, told a very different story.
Last year, HK raised nearly HK$275 billion through IPOs by 106 companies. The funds came from around the world rather than solely from the mainland.
Cornerstone investments amounted to HK$106.6 billion last year, with major institutions including UBS, Jane Street Capital and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC taking part.
"A closed platform" would never be able to attract sovereign wealth funds from three continents, he said.
Those betting against HK have repeatedly missed opportunities
Zatt said Roach's second mistake was his portrayal of HK's resilience as "window dressing".
Zatt said he had experienced that resilience first-hand rather than simply reading about it in reports.
He recalled appearing alongside senior Western executives who were "certain" that HK was finished.
"I heard their certainty with my own ears, and I watched with my own eyes as they missed opportunities time and again because they had been blinded by ideas fed to them from abroad," he said.
"Those who succeeded ignored the clichés and focused on the facts. The facts are that this city continues to function well."
Zatt said Roach's third mistake was to portray the National Security Law as a betrayal rather than a form of protection. He also accused Roach of applying a double standard.
"In all Western countries, national security laws are regarded as necessary legal tools to safeguard national sovereignty and guard against external threats and terrorism, yet Western societies portray HK's enactment of a national security law as illegitimate," he said.
He noted that cases involving national security accounted for less than 0.2% of all criminal proceedings in HK.
The city's commercial legal framework, he said, was what truly mattered to the operation of capital, and that framework remained intact: contracts were enforced, property rights were respected, and courts remained independent in commercial matters.
HK is not a nostalgic stronghold but a laboratory for the future
Zatt said it was true that "Hong Kong of old is over", but that this had created an opportunity for a new HK to emerge.
HK's past success was built on a model that was no longer applicable today, he said. Its free economy was closely linked to global finance and heavily reliant on sectors such as property, which had driven decades of prosperity but ultimately faced limitations.
HK had never been a stronghold of nostalgia, but rather a laboratory for the future, he said.
Evidence could be seen across a range of areas, including HK's important role in the country's technological transformation. Its legal system and expertise in arbitration gave it influence in shaping global rules governing digital assets, artificial intelligence and cross-boundary data.
Professionals from the mainland and talent from around the world were bringing technology and capital to the city, he said, describing the development as HK's "phoenix moment".
(Source: Wen Wei Po)
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