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IMMIGRATION FROM CHINA
8. Hong Kong's housing programme is complicated by the
need to cope with a continuing high level of immigration from
China. Some 70,000 legal immigrants and an estimated 33,000
illegal immigrants from China entered Hong Kong in 1978.
The
Government have made representations to the Chinese Government.
We believe they understand the difficulties created for Hong
Kong by the present rate of arrivals, and are making genuine
efforts to reduce the numbers. In recent weeks there has been
some reduction, but the level is still far too high.
IMMIGRATION FROM VIETNAM
9. The Hong Kong boat people are not to be confused with
the Vietnamese small-boat refugees. The increasing numbers
of refugees from Vietnam who have been arriving in Hong Kong in recent weeks represent a growing problem for the Hong Kong authorities. Over 12,000 former residents of Vietnam are now
in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement elsewhere, in addition
to the 13,500 who have been allowed to settle there permanently
since 1975. The Government have agreed to allow 1,000
additional Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong to enter
the United Kingdom and have urged the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, and other governments, to do all
they can to help.