After nearly two years of uncertainties, anxieties and anticipation, normal travel between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland is expected to be resumed soon.
The Hong Kong Health Code, which was launched on Dec 10, will be the key to quarantine-free travel between Guangdong province and Macao and Hong Kong from, perhaps, as early as this month.
Registration requires a user to provide his or her full name, Hong Kong identity card number and its date of issue, a contact number, a home address and proof of said address. The applicant is then requested to upload their access records from the LeaveHomeSafe app over the past 31 days.
The information received is then collated to determine whether the given home address and access records coincide with any confirmed COVID-19 case or possible close contacts with a confirmed case.
Once an applicant is deemed safe for travel, a “green code” will be issued, allowing quarantine-exempt travel to Macao and Guangdong.
Although talks of normalizing travel between Hong Kong and the mainland has been going on for a long time, some people have consistently opposed such a move out of concern over personal privacy issues. Specifically, they fear that their personal data will be handed over to the mainland’s law enforcement agencies.
To assuage such fears, Hong Kong Secretary for Innovation and Technology Alfred Sit Wing-hang has reassured that protecting privacy is a top priority for the SAR government in implementing the Hong Kong Health Code.
To those who continue to peddle privacy concerns (about the Hong Kong Health Code), I am duty-bound to remind them that the scheme is an opt-in scheme, and the uploading of personal data is a matter of personal choice
But to those who continue to peddle privacy concerns, I am duty-bound to remind them that the scheme is an opt-in scheme, and the uploading of personal data is a matter of personal choice. In other words, no one is compelled to divulge his or her personal information unless that person registers to join the scheme. Anyone who is concerned about abuse of personal data by the mainland authorities would, in the first place, not need to go to the mainland.
Sadly, these naysayers’ fearmongering had succeeded in delaying the government’s implementing the program earlier on and in disrupting business, family and social contacts between Hong Kong and the mainland for more of the past two years.
So, to those who still oppose the Hong Kong Health Code, they should know this: Before the pandemic struck and when we enjoyed unfettered international travel, passports and visas were the prerequisites that allowed us to move freely among jurisdictions. A passport and or visa application requires the submission of personal information, as any and all, travelers must be vetted.
For those who want to emigrate elsewhere or move to a foreign country to work or study, it is an even more elaborate process. Visa applications require applicants to submit their personal information such as bank statements to prove that they can support themselves while studying or working abroad. Anyone who refuses to provide such information is automatically denied a visa to the country concerned.
To those who continue to spread fears about or oppose the Hong Kong Health Code, I say this is no more stringent than other travel requirements in other parts of the world.
Since it is abundantly clear that there is a strong desire for normal travel between Hong Kong and the mainland to resume, one can’t help but wonder why it has taken the HKSAR government so long to act. Having said that, the details of implementing the Hong Kong Health Code are still quite crude.
The application process requires users to tread through 28 pages online, containing superfluously written procedures. Many who have registered — even those who are highly computer literate — have complained that what should be a simple application process has proven to be unnecessarily taxing.
But, hopefully, after Sunday’s legislative election, Hong Kong’s political landscape will be transformed.
Gone may be the days when governance and public administration were reduced to filibustering and political posturing. May we welcome an effective government that can now act in the interests of Hong Kong people.
I hope that residents will vote for a better Hong Kong on Sunday. With 153 candidates vying for 90 seats in the city’s seventh Legislative Council, it’s clear that competition will be fierce.
Voting is a privilege, as well as a civic duty, but many of us take such voting right for granted. So, let us exercise our right by ensuring that we elect candidates who will serve as dedicated patriots for good of both HKSAR and the nation for the next four years
Voting is a privilege, as well as a civic duty, but many of us take such voting right for granted. So, let us exercise our right by ensuring that we elect candidates who will serve as dedicated patriots for good of both HKSAR and the nation for the next four years.
It is also said that the Hong Kong Health Code is created only for businesspeople. But, while business between the mainland and Hong Kong has faced some challenges, it has been able to continue, or rather, adapt to its usual operations.
We have over 370,000 Hong Kong people living on the mainland, many of whom have been separated from their loved ones for many months. There is a clear need for convenient cross-boundary travel. It is just a shame this has not come sooner.
More than 300,000 Hong Kong residents had applied for the health code in the first two days of its launch.
But with the program still in its infancy, many people have been left wondering how the health code will prioritize the droves of applicants desperate to cross the boundary.
Will family members finally be reunited, or will travel be granted to businesspeople for the sake of boosting the economy? And, if there is a marking program for travelers, then what is it and how will applications be assessed?
If managed poorly, it will spell disaster for our government as well as our legislators which will very likely fester for quite a while. But if managed successfully, then there is no telling what sort of doors it will open (both literally and figuratively) for the people of Hong Kong.
The author is president of Wisdom Hong Kong, a think tank.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.