【明報專訊】The Event
Our city's 150-a-day quota for people from mainland China has once again come under the spotlight.
The Basic Law provides that mainland residents who wish to settle in Hong Kong must apply for One-way Permits (OWPs, 單程證) from the mainland authorities where their household registrations are kept. There is a daily OWP quota of 150 places, 60 of which are allocated to Certificate of Entitlement (CoE, 居權證) holders who have the right of abode (居留權) in Hong Kong. Another 30 places are for spouses separated for 10 years or more, and the remaining 60 are for applicants in other categories. Through the OWPs scheme, as many as 780,000 mainlanders have come to Hong Kong since it reverted to Chinese sovereignty.
At issue here is the Hong Kong government's lack of power to screen applicants. This means that our city has to accept whomever the mainland authorities have allowed to come. Because of this and other factors (that mainlanders now flock to Hong Kong under the Individual Visit Scheme, 個人遊計劃; that there is a housing problem, which many attribute to the influx of mainland money; and that mainlanders' behaviour here is perceived to be uncivilised), the OWPs scheme has aroused popular sentiments against mainlanders.
That many mainlanders are in the queues outside kindergartens competing for application forms with the locals has worsened these anti-mainland sentiments. Against this backdrop, some take the view that the Hong Kong government should cut the 150-a-day quota.
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