Why China¡¯s Billionaires Want To Flee The Country Along With Their $60 Billion Wealth

Amid the strict zero-COVID policy of China, many billionaires in the nation are contemplating leaving the country.

Last month, Shanghai-based billionaire Yimeng Huang, the CEO and chairman of gaming company XD, announced in a company memo that he and his family would be relocating from China. The note leaked and went viral on Chinese social media, sparking discussions about the growing number of prominent business people leaving China, as per a Fortune report.

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And Huang isn¡¯t the only one contemplating packing his bags. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Chinese citizens have endured the government¡¯s punishing zero-tolerance strategy that aims to stamp out the virus at all costs.

Chinese policies of strict and extended mass lockdowns and rigorous testing trapped bankers in their offices forced Tesla workers to sleep at the carmaker¡¯s factories, and locked families inside Disneyland until all 33,000 park-goers could be tested. That's not all. Shanghai¡¯s two-month lockdown from April to June 202 saw residents resorting to barter for food and goods.

Now, faced with a continued ¡°zero-COVID¡± future, China¡¯s rich are plotting their escape.

Around 10,000 high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) in China are seeking to leave their country this year and could take $48 billion in wealth with them, according to a new wealth migration report by Henley and Partners, an investment migration consultancy.

Even Hong Kong, which is a special autonomous region in China and has pursued a similarly strict ¡°dynamic-zero¡± COVID policy under Beijing¡¯s watchful eye, is home to around 3,000 HNWI who are planning to leave this year, worth $12 billion.

The Fortune report mentioned that only 10% of the Chinese population holds a passport.

Migration consultants and lawyers have said their inquiries from people looking to relocate surged three- to five-fold in the last few months, according to one Bloomberg report. Popular destinations for relocation include countries like Australia, the U.S., the U.K., and Canada.

Chinese economic growth, too, has spoken for itself, as it decelerated sharply in the second quarter, growing only 0.4%, while the country¡¯s youth unemployment rate is at a record 18%.

Searches for ¡°how to move to Canada¡± had surged 3,000% on China¡¯s most popular messaging and social media app WeChat by March 2022, according to a report from think tank CFR.

In April, 23% of respondents for a European Chamber of Commerce survey reportedly said they were considering moving their investments in China to other countries, the Fortune report mentioned.

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Not Easy To Leave

But it's not easy to do so. Those wanting to leave China are staring down major hurdles from the authorities. Amid a battered economy, rising youth unemployment, and continued COVID outbreaks, authorities are seeking to stem the tide of people and money out of China, the report said.

In May 2022, China¡¯s immigration department announced that it would stringently ¡°restrict the nonessential exit activities of Chinese citizens¡­and strictly [enforce] exit and entry policies,¡± citing the need to contain the virus. Many in China viewed these measures as a way for the authorities to avert a major brain and capital drain.

China¡¯s harsh exit and entry policies have made it difficult for citizens to obtain the documents they need to leave, including procuring passports. The Chinese government had stopped granting passport renewals in 2021 for ¡°nonessential travel,¡± while some city authorities won¡¯t notarize birth or marriage certificates that let people apply for visas, according to NPR, Fortune report mentioned.

China even has tough rules regarding the movement of money out of the country, as citizens reportedly are only allowed to exchange $50,000 worth of Chinese yuan into foreign currencies every year.

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