Western Morning News (Saturday)
We must open our minds to a changing world
The arrival of fresh gifted talent could be just the boost this country needs
‘SO what do you think about Britain leaving the EU but offering 3m people from Hong Kong the chance to live here?’ asked a friend.
I’ve been to Hong Kong several times, interviewed Chris Patten when he was Governor there – even got a personal tour of his private home. I’ve always admired the work ethic of Hong Kong. Like many countries in the far east, people rarely seem idle, working every hour they could. So the prospect of offering UK citizenship to them is interesting.
Because if the prosperous countries of the world had had hard borders centuries ago they wouldn’t exist as the successful places they are today. The melting pot of their countrymen have created their countries. And that melting pot should continue.
I see no reason why one bit of soil should be exclusive to someone because of the colour of their skin or the way they talk. That doesn’t fit well with me. If we fast forward the planet 50-100 years I think we’ll see an even greater multi-mix which will grow until we are almost indistinguishable from other races in certain parts of the free world.
And not always because of political or economic reasons. Nowadays, countless thousands of children are being born in the UK from Scandinavian heritage because of easier sperm donor laws from their countries.
Giving people their political or economic freedom is more important to peace and humanity than anything. And trying to stop the osmosis of intermixed races will be like trying to stop the tide. It won’t happen.
I explored my genetic makeup recently and I’ve got a pot pourri of genes coursing through my body – so although I’m born in this country I’m not, genetically speaking, pure British – and neither is any one of you reading this.
So my heart and soul feels that I have no right to be possessive of the place I’m fortunate to be born in. I didn’t choose to be born here and am uncomfortable about flaunting the privilege of living in such a peaceful, plentiful country. But for the grace of God and all that.
We have to open our minds to the changing world, whether we like it or not. But while we have leaders greedily creating war, not addressing famine and all the other issues that create refugees, we are going to have people seeking a safer life – as would any of you if you were in those circumstances. Until governments and major companies stop the avarice for power, for the earth’s commodities, this problem isn’t going to go away. Quite simply mankind is reaping what it sows.
I doubt few of the Hong Kong people would want to leave their families, friends, their homes and culture. From the snapshot I had when I worked with refugees in Moria camp in Greece, there were very few – if any – who wanted to be uprooted. Survival is a very strong driver though and many had little choice.
And survival from a brutal regime is what is on offer by Boris Johnson.
In 1898, Britain was granted 99 years of rule over the Hong Kong colony under The Second Convention of Peking. The lease would allow Britain to have sovereignty over the New Territories connected to mainland China. In 1997, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule under an administrative system known as ‘one country, two systems’ following an international bilateral agreement, the Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed by Margaret Thatcher and her Chinese counterpart in 1984.
The policy was to guarantee Hong Kong greater freedoms than those on the mainland until 2047, including freedom of speech and people’s right to protest.
The Chinese have reneged on the policy, denying the citizens of free Hong Kong what they’d been promised in 1984.
Boris Johnson’s offer of refuge is, I’m sure, not entirely altruistic. In the last year of Britain’s control Hong Kong’s GDP was $180billion. Being offered the opportunity to live in
Britain today will no doubt open up the coffers of the successful Hong Kong business owners and bring a huge boost to the British economy.
As a result, the Chinese government may lose out and the tiger’s tail will be tweaked. China is not a country to lose face and the outcome of Johnson’s actions is hard to predict. But it will face down the playground bully. The people of Hong Kong have been badly let down by China and the Chinese government need to be shown publicly that it isn’t acceptable.
People from any nation who want to come to this great country should know that they have to speak our language, respect our customs, our culture. And our welfare state needs to be tightened up – wherever you come from.
Handouts for able-bodied people should be scrutinised, work ethic encouraged from school upwards. Pride in working, whatever it is, should be key because of the selfesteem it usually engenders. My limited personal experience of the people of Hong Kong is they have that in spades. Just like the Asians who were kicked out by African regimes in the 70s. People arrived with no more than $50 in their pocket and now a large part of British economy owes its success to their business acumen.
The arrival of fresh gifted talent could be just the boost this country needs. We will be the richer for it at every level.