Public reactions to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s latest Policy Address on Wednesday have been mostly positive, not surprisingly, because it promises increased efforts and specific plans to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic as soon as possible and achieve the speedy economic recovery Hong Kong needs more than everything else right now. Once the SAR achieves zero local infections and manages to keep it that way, local businesses will be able to resume normal operation. Apart from the most urgent task of containing the spread of the novel coronavirus, the 2020 PA also offers nurturing schemes for youth development and talent recruitment, a contentious topic in social administration because it concerns the younger generation the most.

The GBA Youth Employment Scheme turned out to be an instant hot topic because it will subsidize businesses on the mainland side of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area that hire fresh university graduates from Hong Kong up to HK$18,000-20,000 a month for a year. Apparently detailed preparation is needed to flesh out a workable format before the scheme can be implemented, but some people in Hong Kong have already portrayed it as a way to “send” talented Hong Kong youths to the mainland instead of creating more jobs for them at home. The impulse to think ill of others aside, this twisted notion also ignores the reality and basic facts, such as the PA does not say Hong Kong youths working in mainland GBA cities will not be allowed back.

That rather mean insinuation was raised by a caller during a radio talk show the CE was on. Carrie Lam replied immediately the sole purpose of the GBA Youth Employment Scheme is to help young people who wish to pursue career opportunities in mainland GBA cities, adding there will be no measure preventing them from coming back to Hong Kong if they want to. That caller definitely is not the only one with a dark view of the mainland and the chief executive; he represents a group of people who harbored ill will toward the mainland for whatever reasons. But they have no right to put their words in other people’s mouths. It is up to university students who will graduate in the next few years to decide whether or not to explore career opportunities on the other side of the boundary, especially if they cannot find a suitable one in Hong Kong, where the narrow economic base limits their job opportunities and room for career development. There is no guarantee they will find one on the mainland side of the GBA but it is their right to try nevertheless.

Let’s not forget many parents in Hong Kong wish they had the means to help their grown-up children start a promising career somewhere safe and prosperous. Given the current global pandemic situation, it is fair to say there is no place safer than the Chinese mainland right now and very likely next year as well. As long as COVID-19 remains a real and present threat it is impossible to run business as usual under quarantine and social-distancing rules, not to mention the fact that Hong Kong’s future development depends on integrating its own development into the overall development strategy of the country anyway, whether the naysayers accept it or not. And subsidized or not, job opportunities are for the prepared and determined.