It follows that my remarks in the Foreign Affairs debate on 8 November did not constitute a new statement of policy: there has never been any question of returning genuine political refugees to China. But I should also point out that the vast majority of those who seek to
to enter Hong Kong illegally from China are not refugees in the accepted sense of the word. They are simply people who are attracted by the prospect of better opportunities and a higher material standard of living in Hong Kong. This point was underlined by Evan Luard in a Written Answer on 19 July this year. After giving the numbers of illegal immigrants since 1973, he said: "I emphasise that those repatriated are not, and do not claim to be, refugees".
To inven.
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