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HE
travel. This made things difficult for the Chinese. It also encouraged more people to attempt to come illegally. pointed out that it had been made clear in the 1973 discussions that we could not return all those who entered illegally. With very few exceptions we returned all those who were caught in the border area. It was not practical to attempt to extract and return those who had already reached their relatives in the urban areas.
Through Train Service
4.
At one point in the discussion Mr Lo referred to the possibility of a through train service. (He had misunderstood a comment by Mr Wang to the effect that, despite the existence of air and sea routes, more people would be likely to come by train.) HE said that he did not see any great difficulties about a through train service. We would be happy to consider
any suggestion about the details.
Water
5.
HE expressed our great appreciation for the agreement to increase supplies up to 1982 and to have further discussions on supplies thereafter.
General
6.
The meeting lasted for 45 minutes. The atmosphere was generally very friendly, although there were some sticky patches on the subject of immigration.
Political Adviser's Office, 12 October, 1978.
On file to S for S
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Hong Kong & General Dept, FCO ✔ Far Eastern Department, FCO Chancery, Peking
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