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How it began
How it began
After the 2008 milk scandal in China, no one in China has confidence in their own milk products. As a result, some of the wealthier ones started to buy baby formula milk products (hereafter simply referred to as "milk powder", which is how HK people call it) of foreign brands for their children. But they are not even confident in official mainland imports of these brands; there is no trust in their society and everyone suspects that those products could also be fake. (Which is entirely true - China is well-known to have nothing genuine.) They only trust products (of such brands) personaly carried over the border from Hong Kong.
Unlimited number of mainland Chinese "tourists" cross the border every day; many of whom are full-time smugglers transporting milk powder out as their "luggage". Even though there were no export restrictions on the side of HK (back then), in mainland Chinese law milk powder have to be declared in customs, but they weren't; customs in Shenzhen never seem to bother. (You know why.) Around the end of 2012/beginning of 2013, there began a shortage of milk powder in Hong Kong, as the Chinese were buying so much there was hardly any left. Local parents often needed to visit from many different stores in search for one that has it available.
Protests and subsequent export restrictions
Protests and subsequent export restrictions
The local HK government, with their usual pro-mainland agenda, initially refused to impose any purchasing limits, export restrictions or any other measures. At one point it even proposed rationing to local parents (while mainland Chinese can still buy as much as they want.) The problem became so severe that some HK people started a petition in the White House website seeking International attention. There was also a series of protests directly targeting the smugglers, including blocking the smugglers at Sheung Shui train station and publicly humiliating them.
The incidents were notable as a first real success for the localists in their actions protecting HK and in gaining media support.
Eventually the government is forced to put in export restrictions limiting the amount of milk powder that can be exported.
Left plastics
Left plastics
The left plastics in Hong Kong always believe that HK have a "duty" to serve and help the mainland, and so is the case here: even though it is clearly impossible for a small city to satisfy the demand of over a billion people, they made various ridiculous arguments in support of the Chinese raid, such as
- Why don't you switch to a different brand (why should we be the one to switch?)
- "breastfeeding is healthier" (so why don't you encourage mainlanders to breastfeed then?)
- Smugglers are the "working class" and it is the evil capitalism at fault (being leftist, they think "those who sweat" are always right)
They also condemned the actions of localists. However, the problem was so severe that they were eventually forced to back down from their stance and accepted that the smuggling should be stopped, and only made minor criticisms toward the government's way of tackling the problem (e.g. whether it should be buying restriction or export control.)
Chinese raid of milk powder around the world
Chinese raid of milk powder around the world
The same problem actually happened in many other countries; HK is worst due to its proximity to China. The Chinese, via overseas students, tourists, etc, are regularly, systematically raiding milk powder from all over the world. Interestingly they always do it at a retail level (causing shortages in shops) and always do the shipping and transport on a individual, person-by-person level. All affected countries put in some restrictions on how many each customer can buy each time.
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