Mendia expects Ho’s visit to Lisbon could stop the ‘exodus’

Bernardo Mendia

Entrepreneurs have told Lusa News Agency that the exodus of Lusophone citizens from China during the Covid-19 pandemic could delay the strengthening of economic ties between the two sides during the Chinese economy’s recovery.

In Macau, there has been an aggravation of the trend of “Portuguese leaving” during the pandemic, without being “replaced by new Portuguese,” said the Secretary-General of the Luso-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bernardo Mendia.

“That is a great difficulty for a [Portuguese] entrepreneur interested in setting up a company in Macau: finding talent available to manage their interests,” lamented Mendia, cited by Lusa.

The entrepreneur hopes that during the visit of the leader of the Macau government, Ho Iat Seng, to Portugal from April 18 to 22, there will be a “joint effort” to “bet more on the use of the Portuguese language and the attraction of Portuguese-speaking talent.”

Henry Osvald

Mendia advocated for the creation of “specific programs of benefits and advantages that attract more Portuguese to Macau, to urgently reinforce, in number and qualification, the Portuguese community” in the Chinese region.

Reversing the Lusophone exodus trend, which “puts the singularity of Macau at risk,” would also serve to “strengthen the very project” of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Forum Macau), he added.

Forum Macau, which was created in 2003 by Beijing authorities, includes Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe, Timor-Leste, and since April 2021, Equatorial Guinea.

Across the border to the mainland, the scenario among Brazilian expats is similar.

The president of the Brazil-China Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Service, and Innovation (BraCham), estimates that between 30% to 40% of the “200 and some” Brazilian entrepreneurs have left due to restrictions imposed by Beijing to control Covid-19.

“For family reasons, they ended up leaving China and returning to Brazil,” explained Henry Osvald, an entrepreneur based in Guangzhou, since 2004.

Between 15% to 20% of Brazilian companies in China have closed, and in the case of another “20% to 30%,” the owner preferred to continue operations from Brazil, said the leader of BraCham.

Since mid-December, China has abandoned the “zero Covid” policy, which for almost three years imposed restrictions on entry into the territory, opting for mass-testing, risk-zone confinement, and quarantine.

But Henry Osvald predicts that “very few” Brazilian entrepreneurs who lived in China before the pandemic will return, partly because the cost of living in large Chinese cities “is quite high compared to Brazil.”

According to Henry Osvald, cited by Lusa News Agency, “The Chinese economy needs Brazil as much as Brazil needs China,” emphasizing the importance of maintaining and strengthening economic ties between the two countries. PC