 |
| Foreigners leaving Beijing |
Foreign businesspeople, having struggled throughout the pandemic to cope with China's draconian lockdown measures, are holding out hope that leaders in Beijing will allow for more leeway to address the nation's economic hardships after this autumn's critically important 20th Party Congress.
Doing so would serve to help bring more expatriates back to China, they say, according to representatives of foreign business chambers operating in the country.
And some also say Hong Kong should take the lead in relaxing its quarantine policy – shifting it away from mandatory hotel quarantines.
Such compulsory precautions remain a hindrance to some business operations in the international business hub where 94 per cent of the population has received at least two vaccinations against the coronavirus.
My own contacts, residents in Beijing and Shanghai, tell me they have seen a sharp increase in wealthy Chinese applying for an Australian "golden visa" passport, where money gets you residence. Sharp increases since the draconian lockdowns, earlier on Shanghai and now Beijing and other cities. They're fed up with the Zero Covid policy and want a bolt-hole "just in case".
