Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, a Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress, urged the government of the special administrative region to amend its population policy to attract more young skilled workers from the mainland, to help close the city's skills gap and to ease its aging problem.
Suggested measures include improving the housing policy, subsidizing mainlanders who are suffering from sky-high rents and improving the tax system, Fan said on Monday.
Regarding Hong Kong's population policy, it was important that it could attract "brain power" from the mainland, said Fan, the only Hong Kong deputy on the NPC Standing Committee, and the president of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1997 to 2008.
Fan urged the government to be more proactive to attract skilled mainlanders and find ways to help them settle down in Hong Kong.
"Hong Kong should also be a city for the middle class, for young talents from all over the world. A civilized society where people feel their potential can be fully developed," said Fan.
Major reasons for skilled mainlanders to only stay in Hong Kong for a few years include crowded accommodation and high living costs. Fan suggested there could be a tax exception policy for people paying high rents.
Fan dismissed as "strange" claims that babies born to non-Hong Kong-permanent-residents, who are entitled to right of abode in Hong Kong, may help to close Hong Kong's skills gap in the decades to come.
Mainland women were responsible for 47 percent of births in Hong Kong in 2010, according to the SAR government.
"Hong Kong is in need for talents in certain fields. We'd better look for mainland talents in specific areas. You can't just judge the situation in general. We are not playing with figures," said Fan.
In fact, the Hong Kong government had been taking measures to reduce the number of babies born to mainlanders in Hong Kong, including raising the charge for mainland mothers-to-be to give birth in Hong Kong and, in cooperation with neighboring Guangdong province, cracking down on illegal agencies who arrange their visits.
Fan suggested the SAR government take the initiative to find ways to remove the right of abode of Hong Kong, which she said was the crux of the problem.
The SAR government introduced the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates in 2001 to attract mainland students who graduated in Hong Kong.
By 2007, 1,078 qualified mainland graduates were living and working in Hong Kong under the policy.
Mainland professionals and people with special skills who were not educated in Hong Kong can apply for a long-stay visa under the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals.
By 2007, some 6,663 mainlanders and overseas Chinese were allowed to come to work or reside in Hong Kong under the ASMTP.