Letter
The Rev D J Harding Director
UN Association
3 Whitehall Court London
SW1A 2EL
Lord Goronwy-Roberts
David Owen has asked me to let you have a substantive reply to your letter of 1 February about illegal immigrants into Hong Kong from China.
I have deliberately referred to illegal immigrants rather than refugees because we have found no evidence that any of the people concerned come within the definition of refugees given in the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees. Indeed, I am assured by the Hong Kong Govern- ment that since they began operating the present policy in 1973 they have never received a single request for political asylum.
I, therefore,bbelieve that the extension of the Convention to Hong Kong would have very little bearing on the problems you describe.
Each case involving an illegal immigrant is dealt with humanely and sympathetically by the Hong Kong Government. Although in the majority of cases the would-be immigrants are returned to China, if there are exceptional humanitarian reasons, e.g. if the immigrant has parents or children in Hong Kong, repatriation is not carried out. On the evidence that we have seen we believe that those who are repatriated are not harshly treated by the Chinese authorities.
Ideally I too would prefer it if the policy of repatriation were not necessary. But Hong Kong is a very small place and its economy and social infrastructure could not support an unlimited number of immigrants.
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