CONFIDENTIAL
On illegal immigration I pointed to the fact that the numbers of illegals arrested and returned had been successfully brought down from the peaks in the Spring and Autumn of 1979, but that over the past three months, numbers had levelled out at an
Could Mr Fu give me some idea of the measures being taken by the Guangdong authorities and the extent to which they were succeeding? Reinforcements on the Hong Kong side had meant that the numbers of those caught had been brought up from around one fifth of the number evading capture up to 1977 to approximately the game figure now. Was Mr Fu able to give some indication of the capture/evasion ratio on the Chinese
side, based on the assumption that those returned represented approximately a half of those evading capture by the Chinese authorities?
unacceptably high level of around 150 per 1 Levelled out at an
Mr Fu explained that he did not have detailed figures ready to hand. They could in principle be provided. The Guangdong authorities were grateful for the detailed information provided by the Hong Kong authorities concerning escape patterns and routes and he hoped further cooperation and exchanges of information could take place, in the hope of curbing the flow of illegals, about which Chinese concern was as great as Hong Kong's. The return of Zheng Gang, an organiser of escapes, had been a useful example of cooperation. One of the major difficulties in coping with the present flow was the much higher degree of organisation now than previously if the ringleaders of escape organisations in Hong Kong could be put out of action it would make a big difference. I said that the Hong Kong authorities would be grateful for any information that the Chinese side had that would help in identification and arrest of the organisers. Whether or not the person concerned could be returned to China might present some legal problems and would have to be looked at on a case by case basis. Meanwhile 1 understand that organisation of escapes was not limited to the Hong Kong side, and that information had been passed on detailing examples: Mr Fu said that such information was always welcome and acted upon.
6. Mr Fu described the four-fold policy which the Chinese were adopting to combat illegal emigration. The first element was propaganda and education: many people through television and unreliable contacts with friends and relatives visiting from Hong Kong (some of whom had, he implied, dubious motives for wishing to encourage people to join them there) had a false idea of Hong Kong's nature and the opportunities there, which was in need of correction. It would take time for this to improve, but the increased.contact between Hong Kong and Guangdong, including a much greater movement of people in both directions, would improve the situation.
7. The second element was economic reconstruction within Guangdong. More industrial jobs and higher wages would make emigration to
a danger
Hong Kong less attractive I asked whether there was not
that this might be paradoxically untrue, that having embarked on an urban way of life within China, and acquired certain industrial or clerical skills, inhabitants of Chinese development areas particularly near the border at Shenzhen - might be even more tempted to try their luck in the rat race of capitalist Hong Kong.
CONTITAT
/rFu