GR 260
CY /CAT A
FM HONG KONG 262945Z
CONFIDENTIAL.
CONFIDENTIAL
TO PRIORITY PEKING TELNO.64 OF 26 MAY 78,
INFO F.C.0.
AKK 341
XC.
по
3 GMAY 1978
PA
Sea 54
TELECON SULLIVAN/A.P.A ON 26 MAY : IMMIGRATION FROM CHINA.
**
x.van
1. THE 'STATEMENT BY THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT' MENTIONED TO
YOU BY CHANG YI-CHUN AND LI PAO-CHENG OF THE M.F.A WAS IN FACT
A REPLY ON 24 MAY TO AN ORAL QUESTION FROM AN UNOFFICIAL MEMBER
OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL (TEXT IN M.I.F.T).
2. THE FIGURES GIVEN IN THE REPLY ARE ROUGH ESTIMATES. OF
IMMIGRANTS ENTERING LEGALLY UP TO 21 MAY 16,487 WERE FROM CHINA.
THE BALANCE OF ABOUT 7,000 INCLUDES MANY WHO WILL NOT STAY
PERMANENTLY IN HONG KONG (E.G FOREIGNERS ADMITTED WITH EMPLOYMENT
VISAS AND THEIR DEPENDANTS WHO ARE ADMITTED AS RESIDENTS) ALTHOUGH
TREATED AS IMMIGRANTS RATHER THAN VISITORS FOR STATISTICAL
PURPOSES. ALSO INCLUDED ARE MANY CLOSE DEPENDANTS OF HONG KONG
RESIDENTS COMING FROM COUNTRIES OTHER THAN CHINA AND MEETING OUR
NORMAL IMMIGRATION CRITERIA: BY CONTRAST, MAY OF THE LEGAL (BUT UNCONTROLLED) IMMIGRANTS FROM CHINA HAVE CONNECTIONS WITH HONG
KONG WHICH ARE TOO DISTANT TO SATISFY THESE CRITERIA.
3. THE ILLEGAL FIGURE IS AN EVEN ROUGHER ESTIMATE SINCE ABOUT HALF
COME FROM COUNTRIES OTHER THAN CHINA AND GENERALLY SURFACE VERY
SLOWLY. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM CHINA SURFACE MORE QUICKLY AND
WE CALCULATE THE EVASION RATE AT ABOUT FOUR TIMES THE NUMBER ARRESTED (WHICH WAS 1,054 TO 21 MAY). AS YOU WILL APPRECIATE, WE DO NOT PUBLISH FIGURES ON CHINESE ILLEGALS ARRESTED SINCE A VERY
SMALL NUMBER OF THEM ARE ALLOWED TO STAY. THERE IS OF COURSE NO
QUESTION OF REPATRIATING THOSE WHO EVADE ARREST.
MACLEHOSE
FILES
HK & GD
MVD
CONFIDENTIAL
53