MFN status will deal Hong Kong a devastating economic blow. For one thing, of the $8.5 billion of Chinese goods exported to the U.S. in 1988, some $5.5 billion worth, or 65 percent, was sent to Hong Kong first, and then re-ex- ported to America. In 1989, Chinese re-exports through Hong Kong jumped to $8.5 billion, or 71 percent of China's total exports to the U.S. For another thing, Hong Kong-based American businesses would be hard hit. An American Chamber of Commerce poll of its Hong Kong-based member com- panies indicated that 70 percent would be hurt and nearly 50 percent would have to consider reducing Hong Kong staff and operations if China lost MFN status.
♦♦ Adjusting immigration requirements in ways that encourage Hong Kong's citizens to remain in Hong Kong. Washington particularly should con- sider:
1)Allowing those who receive entry visas to the U.S. to defer their decision to leave Hong Kong until the year 2002, five years after Hong Kong reverts to Chinese control. Currently, visa recipients have only four months in which to move to the U.S.
2)Allowing American firms in Hong Kong to promise passports to qualified employees who have been with the firm a specified length of time. Such business-sponsored passports are currently being issued in Hong Kong by the French government for employees who have been with French firms for at least five years.
3)Expanding the use of so-called “Investor Visas.” Although this category of entry need not confer U.S. citizenship, Hong Kong citizens willing and able to invest in the U.S. should be allowed to come to and live in America for an indefinite time period. Australia and Canada particularly have benefitted from this kind of visa. Australia, for example, provides visas to entrepeneurs under 40 years of age who are willing to deposit $280,000 in Australian bank accounts. Those between ages 40 and 58 are required to invest $400,000. And those 58 and older must invest $680,000 to obtain the visas. As of last year, almost 10,000 Hong Kong
citizens had moved to Australia,
Washington should assure Britain that the U.S will assist in an international effort to provide safe haven for Hong Kong's people if the situation in China further deteriorates. At the same time, however, Washington should stress that the U.S. prefers not an increased number of Hong Kong immigrants to the U.S., but a Hong Kong in 1997 and beyond that is prosperous and free enough to keep its citizens from fleeing.
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