‘No light at the end of the tunnel’ – Americans join Hong Kong’s business exodus

theguardian.com:

In July 2018, Tara Joseph, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, wrote an article in the best-known local English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post, stressing to Americans the territory’s unique position an Asian business hub.

“The US is forgetting the differences between Hong Kong and China. Let’s remind them,” she wrote. “Hong Kong continues to have a robust and hearty infrastructure of values, practices and institutions that could not contrast more starkly with those of the mainland system.”

Now, packing up and leaving the city after more than 20 years there, Joseph listed “dizzying changes” since that op-ed. In 2019, the “anti-extradition bill protests kicked things off … then we had worsening US-China relations … now there’s Covid.”

For Joseph, Hong Kong’s stringent zero-Covid rules are the final trigger for her departure. She is joining a growing list of American expats who have either left the territory or are pondering going. According to a recent survey by the American Chamber of Commerce, 44% of members were thinking of leaving Hong Kong due to the territory’s strict pandemic rules. Of the companies surveyed, 26% said they were considering relocation.

“One of the things that’s really hurting at this point is there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel,” Joseph said.

The administration of Carrie Lam, the territory’s chief executive, has insisted its coronavirus rules will not affect Hong Kong’s standing as a business hub. But Willie Walsh, the director general of the International Air Transport Association, said last month that travel restrictions were leaving the territory “increasingly isolated”.

Yet for many Hong Kong-based businesses, the Covid-induced separation is