Hong Kong to set up a new city in Ireland?

PsychoPete

Some Chinese lad on todayfm weeks ago talking about it, also looking at other countries around the world to make a new city. Personal I think the Chinese are using this as an excuse to take over countries

Spanish Eyes

If even remotely true and given all the shenanigans going on in HK who knows, they at least they would be funding themselves, unlike the motley crew of asylum seekers that just rock up and don't like DP at all god help them.

Del2005

Considering the trouble in getting planning permission to build a data centre in a rural location or a moderately tall building anywhere in Ireland I can see this flying through ABP and zero legal challenges to the courts if it passes ABP.

Mr. Karate

PsychoPete wrote: »

Some Chinese lad on todayfm weeks ago talking about it, also looking at other countries around the world to make a new city. Personal I think the Chinese are using this as an excuse to take over countries

Remember Kids. Colonization is only bad when White People do it.

PsychoPete

Mr. Karate wrote: »

Remember Kids. Colonization is only bad when White People do it.

Hijpo

They cant come to Waterford we already have the Saudis moving in. We cant have religious battles between Buddhists and muslims in our city.

Some fella blasting the Koran over loud speakers trying to drown out gongs and buddhist chants.

Mr. Karate

PsychoPete wrote: »

Keep telling yourself that.

Mr. Karate

Hijpo wrote: »

They cant come to Waterford we already have the Saudis moving in. We cant have religious battles between Buddhists and muslims in our city.

Some fella blasting the Koran over loud speakers trying to drown out gongs and buddhist chants.

The Chinese are Communists so they'll most likely be Atheists. Still an interesting battle to see which side the "Religion has no place in society" crowd here will be on.

dd973

Can just imagine Con Houlihan looking down at the 2070 Kerry All Ireland winners.....'WTF!'

Chris_Heilong

Fist of all that is very strange and second such a move will be seen as an insult to China and China being so petty might lead to trouble for any Irish living there or who have business there.

Chris_Heilong

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

Have ye seen hongkong? Apart from the chinese govt its awesome!

Also very polluted and in as far as China goes it possibly has the biggest crime rings.

dwayneshintzy

Hong Kong is an unbelievably safe city, particularly when you look at violent crime.....pollution can be bad t times, but it's not on the level of mainland Chinese cities.

Polar101

I think the government missed out on a chance to sell Leitrim or Roscommon to some rich guy.

KyussB

I mean, the government have been figuratively selling off our country to foreign investors for years - it only makes sense for them to start literally doing it as well.

deathbomber

will they be ateing the bats then?

expectationlost

PsychoPete wrote: »

Some Chinese lad on todayfm weeks ago talking about it, also looking at other countries around the world to make a new city. Personal I think the Chinese are using this as an excuse to take over countries

did he refer to himself as Chinese?

Invidious

Muahahaha wrote: »

This sounds like a plan for a tax haven on top of a tax haven.

That's why it will never fly. The top 10% of earners pay 61% of all personal income tax. If those 10% moved to New Hong Kong, the Irish tax system would collapse.

dwayneshintzy

dwayneshintzy wrote: »

Hong Kong is an unbelievably safe city, particularly when you look at violent crime.....pollution can be bad t times, but it's not on the level of mainland Chinese cities.

Depends which cities you're comparing it to... Not all mainland Cities are heavily polluted, and many have improved dramatically over the last five years. But yes, the tier 1 Chinese cities are far more polluted, but then, their populations are also far higher.

Typically, mainland Chinese cities would be as safe, if not safer than HK, for westerners. Both HK and mainland China are dodgy as hell for natives, it's just kept away from the main streets.

Mr. Karate

Mr. Karate wrote: »

The Chinese are Communists so they'll most likely be Atheists. Still an interesting battle to see which side the "Religion has no place in society" crowd here will be on.

Genuine atheism is pretty rare. Most Chinese are Buddhist/Taoist, with a large number being either Christian or Muslim. Ancestor worship is also pretty common. Just because they've never allowed a centralised authority for religion, doesn't mean that they're atheists. The hallmark of communism is that most rules are selectively applied, and there's a big difference between what is done in private/public.

Mrs OBumble

kravmaga wrote: »

No thanks, it took us 800 years to get rid of the Brits, we don't want China sticking their noses into our country.

Its not April 1st is it? lol The whole concept/ idea seems farcical...

Read some more current affairs. It's absolutely not a joke.

The people this city us for are of Chinese ethnic origin, but the city is being sought specifically because they don't want to become part of the political entity that is China.

dwayneshintzy

Deleted User wrote: »

Depends which cities you're comparing it to... Not all mainland Cities are heavily polluted, and many have improved dramatically over the last five years. But yes, the tier 1 Chinese cities are far more polluted, but then, their populations are also far higher.

Typically, mainland Chinese cities would be as safe, if not safer than HK, for westerners. Both HK and mainland China are dodgy as hell for natives, it's just kept away from the main streets.

I won't speak for the Mainland, but this just isn't true for Hong Kong at all. The protests are another issue of course, but general crime is very low in Hong Kong, I'm not sure what you mean when you say it's dodgy as hell for locals. It's not just safe for Westerners and ex-pats.

banie01

It would tie in quite well with the proposed intentions to "balance" urbanisation in the country.
To that end the only 2 really viable options would be the Limerick or Galway locations.
Galway would likely make more sense as then a full continuation of the Galway - Limerick- Cork motorway would make even more sense.
It would also allow the development of better NW infrastructure to be based off the justification of an additional urban centre in that area.

Either Galway or Limerick would offer access to 2 intl airports, at similar commute times with a 3rd no more than an extra hr away.
Limerick option would have a better port option with Foynes and immediate motorway access aswell as a potentially still viable(with upgrade, restoration) rail link.

A semi-sovereign autonomous city within Ireland, its a stretch but its one that was previously considered by the UK for a location in NI too.

The argument against accepting large volumes of refugees is usually xenophobic and economic.
In this case the economic argument is fairly moot, in that large scale financing is not needed by the state, additionally a large number of "Irish" jobs will be generated in the construction, facilitation and servicing of such a zone.
There is also huge potential for leveraging our own financial services sector and becoming a larger player than we currently are in that field through synergy with the big HK players and allowing UCITS/KIDD passporting into EU markets for those HK funds.

A lot of potential IMO.

Eric Cartman

I think if it was going anywhere it should be in the north west of Ireland. Take the investor for all his worth , put it up near Boyle, Roscommon and make a part of the planning conditional that they pay half the cost of a proper dual carriageway from both knock airport and the end of the M4 to the site, with provision to widen it to a motorway. A new train station for it could go on the intercity line there too. Great boost for the area.

dwayneshintzy

dwayneshintzy wrote: »

I won't speak for the Mainland, but this just isn't true for Hong Kong at all. The protests are another issue of course, but general crime is very low in Hong Kong, I'm not sure what you mean when you say it's dodgy as hell for locals. It's not just safe for Westerners and ex-pats.

I know a variety of Chinese people living in HK, who have spoken of crime in their area, similar to what happens on the mainland. With the existence of the Triad gangs, crime exists in the form of extortion, blackmail, protection rackets and other crimes. They're just kept out of the limelight. So, dodgy for the locals who aren't living in the better areas..

MontgomeryClift

Aye, some fine economic arguments up there for giving up a portion of Ireland to create a non-Irish colony.

banie01

banie01 wrote: »

The argument against accepting large volumes of refugees is usually xenophobic and economic.
In this case the economic argument is fairly moot, in that large scale financing is not needed by the state, additionally a large number of "Irish" jobs will be generated in the construction, facilitation and servicing of such a zone.
There is also huge potential for leveraging our own financial services sector and becoming a larger player than we currently are in that field through synergy with the big HK players and allowing UCITS/KIDD passporting into EU markets for those HK funds.

A lot of potential IMO.

It's only considered xenophobic by those who won't tolerate those with differing opinions. I tend live in Asia, so I'm hardly xenophobic, but I'd seriously question the introduction of an autonomous zone of HK people in Ireland. People like to think of HK as being ultra modern, with everyone having access to high education, along with having very good skills for employment. That's only a slice of HK.. and there are many other considerations (not solely about economics) worth looking at.

People throw out xenophobia to shutdown the opinions of others. It's important to ask all the hard questions, so that every possible negative/positive is identified. That's not xenophobic, that's being practical and careful with the future of our nation.

Gretas Gonna Get Ya!

Why don't they reclaim land from the sea? Isn't part of hong kong built on reclaimed land?

Or lambay Island? The brits have essentially owned this little Island off Dublin for centuries - seemingly without anyone here really noticing or caring all that much! Technically it's Irish territory, but hasn't been in Irish hands for centuries... I think a british ship sank there in the 1800's with most of the crew being chinese. So it even has some oriental history!

Or we could just... you know... not give away parts of our country to foreign powers. :rolleyes:

on the river

Gretas Gonna Get Ya! wrote: »

Why don't they reclaim land from the sea? Isn't part of hong kong built on reclaimed land?

Or lambay Island? The brits have essentially owned this little Island off Dublin for centuries - seemingly without anyone here really noticing or caring all that much! Technically it's Irish territory, but hasn't been in Irish hands for centuries... I think a british ship sank there in the 1800's with most of the crew being chinese. So it even has some oriental history!

Or we could just... you know... not give away parts of our country to foreign powers. :rolleyes:

It’s called nationalism. Britain should reclaim those territories. You seem amused

Geuze

This was mentioned on the Marginal Revolution blog:

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/07/a-hong-kong-enclave-in-ireland.html


Then the CEO replied:

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/07/mark-lutter-on-hong-kong-in-ireland.html

Geuze

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/07/mark-lutter-on-hong-kong-in-ireland.html

Mark Lutter on Hong Kong in Ireland
by Tyler Cowen July 27, 2020 at 12:07 am in Current Affairs Law
This is from my email, I shall not impose any further indentation:

“Thanks for sharing the article about the Victoria Harbor Group. We, me being Chief Strategy Officer, are in discussions with Ireland. However, it is important to note that the information mentioned is dated. As any early stage company, our ideas have rapidly evolved. While the term we are using is ‘International Charter City’, we are not pursuing full scale autonomy. Our priority is to acquire land and build political support in the host country to build a city for the Hong Kong people with the target population being 50% HKers and 50% citizens of the host country. Of course, we wouldn’t say no to tax and regulatory relief, but that is not our focus.

Our key assumptions are as follows

1. The next 10-15 years will see 1m to 2m Hong Kongers migrate, the first mass migration of high skilled labor in the last 40 or so years.
2. There is value from coordinating this migration, keeping network effects, ensuring housing supply, etc
3. We see this as an opportunity to build the city of the future, cutting edge urban design, welcoming of new technology, self-driving cars, drone delivery, etc.
4. We are in discussions with several countries, not just Ireland, which we will make public when possible. We prefer English speaking countries with common law traditions, but are open to considering others.
5. Our goal is to acquire 50,000+ acres within 2 hours of an airport to build a new city for several hundred thousand residents. Obviously this depends on the political support in the host country. Smaller countries like Ireland would have smaller developments.
6. Political support from the host country is crucial. We are not asking for independence or autonomy. Of course, we wouldn’t say no to tax and regulatory relief, but that is less important than land availability and domestic buy in.
7. The city will fit in the national plans of the host country. The Hong Kongers excel in finance and manufacturing, as well as education and healthcare. While little manufacturing is done in Hong Kong, Hong Kongers own many factories in the Guangdong province. Any country looking to revive their manufacturing base could do so by attracting a bunch of talented HKers. Additionally, a good location could become a top 10 global financial center in 10 years by attracting HK financial talent.
8. We believe this is a great opportunity for any country which wants to attract a talented, hardworking, entrepreneurial population.
9. I have seen a lot of charter city projects and this is the first one I wanted to become part of the leadership team of.

For more information please see my podcast with Ivan Ko, the CEO. Our website will be launching soon.”