By Jerome A. Cohen
Here is an important and largely encouraging story. A Perfect Storm is brewing in both Hong Kong and the UK over emigration to the UK, and it has major lessons for all other liberal democracies that are, rightly, concerned about Beijing’s oppression and the plight of Hong Kong people.
This is Boris Johnson’s finest hour, and I hope that he and his Cabinet can follow through on not only welcoming people who wish to flee PRC dictatorship but also working hard to resolve the many challenges these newcomers face in a UK beset by the pandemic and its long-existing economic and sociological problems in dealing with racial minorities.
The US should immediately follow suit, as should the other obvious preferred destinations of self-exiling Hong Kongers. Here is a huge potential role not just for governments but for charitable foundations like Ford and Rockefeller and the newer ones spawned by immense wealth in America and elsewhere.
Here is also a great opportunity for the many foreign observers of the tragedies being inflicted by Xi Jinping who feel frustrated by their apparent inability to respond in opposition. We can reach out in our own communities to facilitate the arrival and assimilation of the newcomers. This will also belatedly sensitize us to the need to reach out to immigrants from other countries who have done so much to contribute to our domestic welfare.
Perhaps the most encouraging recent report from the UK is the one that demonstrates the net economic and talent benefits that Hong Kong arrivals will contribute to Britain’s struggling economy.