Hong Kong political veteran calls for city to build designated rental homes for global talent
The resolution also listed a wide range of measures to strengthen China’s economic resilience, deepen the tech talent pool and narrow the rural-urban gap as part of efforts to find new growth engines and address demographic challenges.
Beijing’s push to turn the city into an international talent hub was also discussed at the two-and-a-half-hour briefing.
Tam said Hong Kong could utilise its top eight universities’ close ties with global talent to invite them to the city, adding that high salaries and low tax rates were also among its advantages over other locations.
But Tam admitted Hong Kong’s steep rents could not compare with larger living spaces available elsewhere, urging the government to build and rent out homes for international talents coming to the city.
“Perhaps the government could find places to build, or ask other organisations to build [homes] to be rented to these high-end talents, so they have more choices in the market,” Tam said.
Speaking separately on the same programme, lawmaker Jesse Shang Hailong also urged authorities to ramp up measures to tackle the city’s high rental prices and support foreign talents settling down in the city.
“What kind of infrastructure do we need? Talents aren’t here to spend as consumers, that’s not their purpose. What kind of industrial development support measures can we provide to these talents, what kind of platforms are we giving them?” Shang asked.
The lawmaker, who also chairs the Hong Kong Top Talent Services Association, also parsed the directions stated in the third plenum resolution to suggest the type of talents Hong Kong should attract.
“‘International high-end talent’ has a clear meaning. They first need to have an international world view, satisfactory language skills in both Chinese and English, as well as have their own understanding of the global market, research and development standards,” Shang said.
Lawmakers had also said that, apart from widening the net, the government should tighten the scheme’s criteria such as by imposing age limits and specifying professional fields and industries that aligned with Hong Kong’s strategic economic interests.