'After Fleeing Repression, Hong Kongers in Exile Face Financial Blockades', Megan Khoo

The denial of Hong Kongers’ savings is just one piece of the puzzle of transnational repression against the Hong Kong diaspora.

In April 2023, Hong Kong Watch research found that Hong Kongers in exile were being denied up to 2.2 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) worth of their Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) savings. 

The MPF is a compulsory retirement savings scheme for the people of Hong Kong, into which most employers and their employees are required to contribute monthly. The MPF trust deed, which governs the provision of MPF schemes, allows Hong Kongers to withdraw their MPF savings early if they can prove they have permanently departed from Hong Kong. 

Since the pro-democracy protests of 2019, imposition of the National Security Law in 2020, and passage of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance in Hong Kong, an increasing number of Hong Kongers are fleeing from the erstwhile international financial hub. In doing so, tens of thousands Hong Kongers rely on the early withdrawal of their retirement savings to fund their relocation abroad. 

However, after the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the British National (Overseas) (BNO) passport is not recognized as a form of identity in Hong Kong in response to the United Kingdom launching the BNO visa scheme in January 2021, an estimated 126,505 Hong Kongers have been blocked from accessing their savings. This retaliatory action was a unilateral declaration conducted by fiat, with no laws or regulations being changed in Hong Kong regarding the operation of the MPF.

Hong Kong officials choosing not to recognize BNO passports is a convenient excuse for denying Hong Kongers access to their savings, but in reality, this act of transnational repression knows no bounds.

What was 2.2 billion pounds worth of MPF savings in April last year is 3 billion pounds as of May this year, but in 2024, more than the data changed. 

After Bloomberg published a piece on how Hong Kongers with BNO passports were being denied access to their savings, Hong Kong Watch and The Guardian identified two cases in which exiled Hong Kong pro-democracy activists were denied access to their savings due to their MPF accounts being “under investigation.” These Hong Kongers’ accounts are most likely being investigated following the Hong Kong government issuing HK$1 million (US$128,250) bounties for their arrest for peacefully advocating for democracy in Hong Kong and around the world. 

Yet, neither of these individuals has a BNO passport, clearly demonstrating that the withholding of savings is not just an issue for Hong Kongers with BNO passports but a potential issue for all Hong Kongers who choose to flee political persecution in Hong Kong. 

The last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, issued a statement condemning this blatant act of transnational repression. He also criticized the U.K.-based MPF trustees HSBC and Standard Chartered, saying they “must not be complicit in political retaliation” by continuing to blindly follow the declaration of the Hong Kong government. 

Patten’s concern echoes parliamentarians around the world, including Blair McDougall, a new U.K. Labor parliamentarian who recently tabled parliamentary questions asking U.K. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper whether she would liaise with HSBC on unblocking Hong Kongers’ access to their MPF savings.

Members of Parliament in Canada remain equally concerned for Hong Kongers who continue to be denied access to their savings by Canada-based MPF trustees Sun Life and Manulife. In June, the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration of the Canadian House of Commons summoned Sun Life and Manulife executives to testify on the withholding of Hong Kongers’ savings. During the hearing in the Canadian Parliament, MPs Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Jenny Kwan, Greg McLean, and Tom Kmiec MP asked both companies why they still operate in Hong Kong despite the city being under an authoritarian regime. The Committee’s report on the hearing is expected in the autumn.

Following this hearing, there has been a silver lining. One Hong Konger with Canadian permanent residency who was previously repeatedly denied access to their MFP account successfully had their savings released by Manulife in July. 

However, this is just the beginning, and there is much more work to be done. 

The denial of Hong Kongers’ savings is just one piece of the puzzle of transnational repression against the Hong Kong diaspora by the Hong Kong government, which is increasingly controlled by Beijing. In addition to frozen savings, and assets, we are witnessing the issuance of bounties for exiled pro-democracy activists and the questioning of their family members who remain in Hong Kong. Even Western activists have received threats of prison sentences for allegedly endangering the national security of Hong Kong.

As governments, activists, and academics link arms to evaluate how best to tackle the overarching issue that is transnational repression, which affects groups beyond Hong Kongers, there are immediate steps that the U.K. government can take to alleviate the burden of withheld savings on Hong Kongers who are simply trying to adjust to their new lives in the United Kingdom.

On the issue of the MPF specifically, representatives from HSBC and Standard Chartered will be invited to discuss the topic in the British Parliament this autumn. In the meantime, parliamentarians old and new must continue to place pressure on the U.K. government to issue guidance to HSBC and Standard Chartered regarding the use of BNO passports as valid documents.

The U.K. government must also address the fact that Hong Kongers under the BNO visa scheme are one of the only resident groups from British overseas territories – with the exception of those from the Sovereign Base Areas of Cyprus – who are not eligible for “home fee” status at British universities. This can easily be changed in secondary legislation by allowing BNO Hong Kongers to pay home fees after three years’ residency in Britain. This aligns with the Scottish government’s policy change in 2023 in which migrants became eligible for home fee status after three years’ residency in Scotland. 

There is no reason why young Hong Kongers should be priced out of U.K. universities, especially as their parents are blocked from accessing their hard-earned retirement savings. The new government has ample opportunity to demonstrate that they will support the more than 190,000 Hong Kongers in Britain by issuing guidance regarding the BNO passport being used as a valid identity document, and by granting BNO Hong Kongers home fee status.

This article was published in The Diplomat on 9 August 2024.