************************************************
Following is a question by the Hon Kwok Ka-ki and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, in the Legislative Council today (November 15):
Question:
According to Article 24 of the Basic Law and the decision of the Court of Final Appeal in Chong Fung-yuen's case in 2001, all Chinese citizens born in Hong Kong are Hong Kong permanent residents, regardless of whether their parents are permanent residents of Hong Kong. Over the past five years, the number of babies given birth in Hong Kong by Mainland women has been rising. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) among the babies of Chinese nationality who were born in Hong Kong in each of the past five years, the number of those whose father and mother are not permanent residents of Hong Kong;
(b) whether it has estimated the additional burden on public finance in the areas of health care, education and social welfare should all the above babies come to reside in Hong Kong; if it has, of the anticipated financial burden; if not, whether it has devised any measures to cope with the huge pressure on public services if a large number of those babies suddenly come to reside in Hong Kong; and
(c) whether it has considered amending the existing legislation and adopting other measures in this regard to safeguard the long-term population policy of Hong Kong, and whether it has discussed this issue with the Mainland authorities; if it has, of the progress of the discussion?
Reply:
Madam President,
We have consulted the relevant bureaux and departments. Our reply to the question is as follows:
(a) The Immigration Department does not keep statistics that are based on the nationalities of the babies born in Hong Kong. In the past five years, among the babies born to Mainland women in Hong Kong, the number of those born to non-Hong Kong permanent residents is as follows:
Year Number of babies Of which,
---- born to Mainland number of
women in Hong Kong babies whose
------------------ parents are
non-Hong Kong
permanent
residents
-------------
2001 7,810 620
2002 8,506 1,250
2003 10,128 2,070
2004 13,209 4,102
2005 19,538 9,273
(b) The Government is very concerned about the issue of Mainland women giving births in Hong Kong, but at this stage has not come to any conclusion on its long-term impact. We believe that many of such babies will return to the Mainland soon after birth together with their mothers who are not Hong Kong residents. If these babies remain in the Mainland on a permanent basis, statistically they will not be counted as part of Hong Kong's population. If they return to settle in Hong Kong afterwards, they will be counted towards our population figures. The Government bureaux and departments will make reference to the latest actual population figures in assessing the short-term demand for services. To better gauge the short-term and long-term population changes, the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) conducts a population census for Hong Kong once every ten years and a by-census in the middle of the intercensal period. The C&SD also updates the population projections of Hong Kong every two to three years. This facilitates all Government bureaux and departments to assess the demand for services in areas such as housing, education, social services, and medical and health services. The C&SD's population projections are an important source for planning the land and all community facilitates required by future development. We will make suitable adjustment to the planning of these facilities in accordance with the latest population projections. On this basis, the C&SD will release a set of updated population projections in mid-2007 based on the results of the 2006 Population By-census. This set of population projections will adopt the latest population base and trend of births, deaths and population movement. Such projections will provide a basis for all Government bueraux/departments to consider the provision and planning of various services.
(c) As the Government has not at this stage come to any conclusion on the long-term impact of Mainland women giving births in Hong Kong, the Government has no plans so far to amend any legislation or adopt any other measures to address the issue. Nor has the Government discussed this issue with the Mainland authorities. In any case, the relevant bureaux and departments will continue to closely monitor the situation of Mainland women giving births in Hong Kong.
Ends/Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:27
NNNN
