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UNCLASSIFIED
FM HONG KONG 391125Z JUN
TO IMMEDIATE CENTRAL OFFICE OF INFORMATION.
TELEGRAM NUMBER RETRACT 70 OF 30 JUNE, 1979
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AND TO IMMEDIATE F.C.O. (FOR O ID AND NEWS DEPT) AND KUALA LUMPUR (FOR F. WILSON).
FOREIGN SECRETARY VISITS HONG KONG:
BY FRED WILSON, LPS CHIEF DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT, HONG KONG 30 JUNE, 1979.
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT HAS MUCH SYMPATHY WITH HONG KONG'S REFUGEE PROBLEM AND ADMIRES ITS GOVERNMENT'S HUMANITARIAN POLICIES
IN DEALING WITH IT.
THE FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH SECRETARY, LORD CARRINGTON, TOLD THIS TO THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT TODAY. HE SAID AT A PRESS CONFERENCE AT THE END OF THE VISIT THAT THEY DESERVED THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRAISE. ''WHAT HONG KONG HAS DONE INS OUT OF ALL PROPORTION TO THEIR POPULATION. THEY SHOULD BE VERY PROUD''.
LORD CARRINGTON WAS HERE ON A 24 HOUR VISIT TO GET FIRST HAND INFORMATION ON THE TWO SEPARATE PROBLEMS OF BOAT REFUGEES FROM VIETNAM AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ACROSS THE BORDER FROM MAINLAND CHINA.
HE WAS TOLD THAT ''BOAT PEOPLE'' ARE STILL ARRIVING IN HONG KONG AT THE RATE OF OVER 5,000 PER WEEK, AND THAT IT WAS ESTIMATED THAT SOMETHING LIKE 135,000 IMMIGRANTS HAS CROSSED ILLEGALLY FROM CHINA OF WHICH 45,000 HAD BEEN REPATRIATED AND RETURNED TO CHINA SO FAR THIS YEAR.
DURING A VISIT THIS MORNING TO A BRITISH ARMY POST OVERLOOKING THE ONLY AUTHORISED ROAD CROSSING BETWEEN HONG KONG AND CHINA AT MAN KAM TO, THE FOREIGN SECRETARY WAS TOLD THAT THE NUMBER OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS HAD DROPPED CONSIDERABLY FROM THE ALARMINGLY HIGH NUMBERS OF A FEW WEEKS AGO, WHEN HUNDREDS WERE BEING PICKED UP EVERY NIGHT, TO A DOZEN OR SO PER DAY. THE OFFICER COMMANDING GHUURKKA FIELD FORCE, BRIGADIER CARLETON-SMITH, WHO IS IN CHARGE OF THE TROOPS MANNING THE BORDER, TOLD LORD CARRINGTON THAT THE DROP HAD RESULTED FROM THE DECISION TO DEPLOY THE ENTIRE HONG KONG FILED FORCE OF FOUR BATTALIONS ON THE BORDER AND ALSO FROM INCREASED INCREASED MILITARY INVOLVEMENT AND POLITICAL
/PRESSURE