CONFIDENTIAL
of "social education" and fines rather than more severe punishment.
8.
Following the reintroduction of the policy of repatriation
in 1974, the number of illegal immigrants entering Hong Kong has dropped from 30,000 a year to about 5,000. During this period some 4,800 people have been repatriated
9. The policy of repatriating illegal immigrants understandably attracts critical comment both in Hong Kong and in this country and the fact that the people are being returned to a country with a Communist regime makes it the more difficult to understand. Such
a policy is however a matter of practical necessity given the high rate of legal immigration: there can be little doubt that the rate of illegal immigration would once more rise sharply if repatriation, which acts as a deterrent, were abandoned. Moreover, the vast majority of illegal immigrants are not, and make no claim to be, refugees in the accepted sense of the word. They are simply people who are attracted by the higher material standard of living in
Hong Kong and the greater opportunities there.
Immigration from Indo-China
10. The situation is complicated by the problem of refugees from Indo-China. Since 1975 over 10,000 former residents of Indo-China (most of them with local family connections) have been allowed to settle in Hong Kong. In addition, over 500 Vietnamese "small boat" refugees have been allowed to land. Hong Kong has been exemplary among the countries of South-East Asia in observing the international practice governing the landing of "small boat"
refugees.
11. There are those who ask why Hong Kong should accept refugees
from Vietnam while repatriating illegal immigrants from China.
The essential difference is that those from Vietnam are genuine
refugees. This is particularly true of the ethnic Chinese who are now beginning to arrive in Hong Kong following the recent campaign of rersecution against them in Vietnam.
Rwandten
R JT McLaren
9 June 1978
3
CONFIDENTIAL
Hong Kong & General Dept
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