Hong Kong’s labour chief has dismissed suggestions that newly arrived talent are exploiting admission schemes to give birth in the city, saying no evidence or data supports such claims.
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He called on society to treat the professionals with respect, as they had gone through stringent vetting procedures.
“Based on the numbers of newborns in the past two years, as well as our exchanges with different organisations, we did not see such things happening,” Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han told lawmakers on Wednesday, dismissing their concerns that some non-resident workers were exploiting admission schemes to give birth in the city.
“And based on our observation, talents who have not yet secured employment remain interested in long-term development in Hong Kong, and we have not discovered any cases of people using development in Hong Kong as a pretext while actually intending to give birth,” Sun added.
Sun said that incoming workers made up only a small share of the population and therefore posed no strain on public resources.
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Since 2022, more than 240,000 individuals have arrived in Hong Kong through various schemes.