I'm Not Trying To Get Rid Of HK Youth: Carrie Lam

Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Thursday railed against the idea that she was hoping to send young Hongkongers packing from the territory, as she defended her plan to subsidise jobs elsewhere in the Greater Bay Area.

Lam said paying companies in Guangdong up to HK$18,000 a month to hire fresh Hong Kong university graduates will not lead to a "brain drain" and the aim is only to provide young people with more opportunities.

On a radio programme to discuss her latest Policy Address, a caller asked the CE why she is sending the city's most valuable assets to the mainland instead of encouraging them to stay and make Hong Kong a better place.

"You used the word ‘send’. It sounds like I hate young people. In fact, I like young people a lot. I hope to give them more opportunities," she replied.

She said that in a globalised world, people don't just stay in one place, adding that any Hongkongers who leave for the mainland could always come back again if they wanted to.

Lam also said she thinks that some young people have no interest in living on the mainland because they have some "misunderstandings" about life on the other side of the border.

People used to stigmatise President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road initiative, and now they stigmatise the Greater Bay Area instead, she said.

Another caller noted that some local companies had said they wouldn’t hire young people after last year’s social unrest, asking the CE whether she had tried to persuade the business sector to offer more opportunities for young people.

Lam said she has often told the business community that they shouldn’t "tar all young people with the same brush" and that the majority of young Hongkongers support the city's stable development.

Asked what she would say to those Hongkongers who are planning to emigrate in order to convince them to stay, Lam said she hopes this week's Policy Address will give people hope.