Advertisement
Advertisement
Alex Lo
SCMP Columnist
My Take
by Alex Lo
My Take
by Alex Lo

Now may be the time to close the border

  • It’s hardly the worst option and will help many Hong Kong people feel safer while enabling city chief Carrie Lam to regain some public confidence after eight months of social unrest
Hong Kong people have been forced to deal with, in recent months, some of the toughest moral and political conundrums any community has been confronted with. The outbreak of the coronavirus has now presented them with one more. Perhaps this is what people mean when they speak of being cursed by living in interesting times.

Thousands of public medical staff have threatened industrial action unless the government closes the border. Are they doing it out of selfishness by holding the public hostage in its hour of need? Or are they trying to save the city because its government has proved to be incompetent and inadequate?

Those against the local and central governments have been quick to rally to the medical staff. Others have denounced and condemned the medics. Eight months of civil unrest have caused people to make a habit of taking sides.

Hong Kong hospital workers’ union to go ahead with strike starting on Monday

But in an emerging outbreak, people should worry less about blaming others than deciding the best course of action to take for themselves, their families and society as a whole. Will closing the border help or hinder the spread of the disease into the community?

Many countries are closing their borders even though they are far away; Hong Kong is at the southern fringe of mainland China.

Officials up to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said closing the border to mainlanders would be discriminatory and unnecessary. The World Health Organisation has not recommended it and even during the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak, the border stayed open.

Bureaucrats always want clear evidence to make the decision for them, but real leaders must decide, right or wrong, under tremendous uncertainty. There are no “nice” ways to fight an epidemic. Quarantines are the ultimate “discriminatory” measure, but often the only method that works.

It’s true that closing the border is not foolproof, but then no measure is. Short of sealing it, there is still wriggle room to allow some cross-border commercial activities under medical surveillance as well as delivery of essential foodstuffs and services. The daily average 35,000-plus mainland arrivals have been halved following the new travel restrictions. Even these need to be drastically reduced further.

But won’t Beijing be upset? Well, if it is ready to seal off entire cities, it’s hard to imagine it would be too bothered by whatever is being done in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Lam has a chance to prove she will do right by the city without antagonising Beijing too much.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Now may be the time to close the border
Post