Nobody wants to leave Hong Kong. We're on the streets fighting for our home alongside people who love it just as much as we do. We have spent the past year gath

Nobody wants to leave Hong Kong. We're on the streets fighting for our home alongside people who love it just as much as we do. We have spent the past year gathering to sing, to celebrate, to mourn, and to fight for this place that we love. The past year has made it immensely clear how special a place Hong Kong is—even with the many things that can be improved. This offer is appreciated and I believe that those who accept it as expedient will not be looked down upon by others. When you have the Sword of Damocles hanging over your head it is an exhausting existence. Many in the resistance will move overseas and continue their efforts. From an economic standpoint, any emigration of Hong Kongers is likely to be beneficial to the places where they land. Those most likely to take this offer in the short term will coincide with those who are most materially wealthy. Given that the CCP has threatened to revoke the Chinese Nationality of those who accept an offer of this sort (and has been known to use family members as leverage), I do not expect that, as a sibling comment states, we would see people trying to use this as a tax avoidance scheme. From a demographic standpoint, many of the people who will choose to leave are young. This is a significant benefit to many places in the world who have declining birth rates. The UK population pyramid, for example, would appear to benefit from immigration of a younger cohort. [1] As to efficacy, there is a gap in coverage for those born shortly after the handover. It's unclear how many will fall into that gap but it does represent a cohort of people who tend more toward exclusively identifying as Hong Kongers. [2] People who qualify as dependents of BNO holders appear to be eligible so that gap may be approximately six years: July 1, 1997 - July 1, 2003. It also doesn't account for children of HK immigrants and I have no insight into those demographics and their opinions (possibly a significant number of mainland immigrants who identify as Chinese). As a real gesture, instead of the words that have been spent accomplishing nothing for the past year, this is a welcome change. Hong Kongers are now hoping for 攬炒, "if we burn, you burn with us." But if nobody holds the CCP accountable it just becomes "we burn." (I'm a US passport holder. I am a Hong Kong immigrant. My wife was born and raised in Hong Kong (土生土長香港人). I'm currently studying Cantonese full time at CUHK (中文大學). I have a 光復香港時代革命 flag hanging in my apartment. I wrote this quickly: there will be errors, glosses, and poorly expressed things. I do not speak for all Hong Kongers and their experiences, hopes, wishes, desires, and dreams.) [1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/articles/ukpopulationpyramidinteractive/2020-01-08 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populati... [2] https://www.hkupop.hku.hk/pori_table_chart/EthnicIdentity/Q001_Hongkonger_byagegp/Q001_Hongkonger_byagegp_chart.html https://www.hkupop.hku.hk/pori_table_chart/EthnicIdentity/Q0...