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MR BLAKER'S MEETING WITH SIR MURRAY MACLEHOSE: 14 JULY 1980
ESSENTIAL FACTS
Illegal Immigration from China
1.
The Governor has reported in his telegram No 868 that the
Executive Council has advised that, unless there is a marked improve-
ment in the number of illegals entering Hong Kong before the end of
August, the contingency plans Ministers have already approved in
principle to deal with continued high levels of illegal immigration
from China should be implemented. The details of these plans are in
Mr Clift's submission of 14 May. Briefly, they involve repatriating
illegal immigrants even after they have reached base, the compulsory
carriage of identity cards or some other identity document and
making the employment of someone who does not have such a card unlaw-
ful.
It was agreed that the Chinese should be tackled once more on
the subject of illegal immigration before these measures were
introduced. The Minister spoke to the Chinese Ambassador about it
on 17 June.
2.
The Governor set out the problems in paragraph 6 of his letter of
30 April to Mr Murray, but says in paragraphs 3 and 4 of his telegram
that he is now less apprehensive about them.
3. In paragraph 8 of the same letter, the Governor spelt out the
ideal scenario for introducing the new measures. None of the factors
he mentioned are likely to be present in August.
4.
In paragraph 2 of his telegram, the Governor gives the reasons why
he wants to introduce the new measures in late August. These are that
the figures for illegals remain high, placing a severe strain on the
police and the garrison; that the social and economic penalties are
becoming too high; that Hong Kong will be affected by recession this
/autumn
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