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consideration to the Hong Kong Government's request. Mr. TAN said he would
refer the matter for decision.
Visa Problems (Mr. Peters of Immigration Department was present for this item)
PA said that we had now looked into the request made by the NCNA.
4.
From
1 May 1980 the Immigration Department would be prepared to issue to holders of
official or diplomatic passports in Guangdong and Fujian visas for Hong Kong
in the following categories:
(a)
a single journey visit for up to 3 months;
(b) transit visas for 1 or 2 journeys of 7 days validity;
(c) multiple journey transit visas for diplomatic couriers.
Immigration Department would deal with the NCNA or CTS and would aim to issue the
visās within 7 working days. Persons not in the categories mentioned would still
have to apply to the British Embassy. Mr. II expressed appreciation of this
proposal but said he would like to consult the Department of Foreign Affairs
as it might wish to make certain supplementary proposals.
Return of Vietnamese refugees previously settled in China
5.
PA said that Mr. Sullivan from the British Embassy in Peking had
recently been told by Mr. FU Feng in Guangzhou that China would have great difficulty in taking back any further Vietnamese refugees previously settled in
China. If this were the case, it would cause very considerable concern to the
Hong Kong Government, as we still had some 2,500 such refugees. Moreover, if
they were not all sent back it would act as a strong incentive to others
to reach Hong Kong. Had there in fact been a change in policy? Mr. TAN said
he knew nothing of this but would enquire: possibly there had been a misunderstanding.
Exchange of information
6.
PA mentioned that the Hong Kong Marine Police had found that two Chinese trading vessels (Po Luen 216 from Fuyung Commune and 612 Luen Po from
Shacheng Commune) were carrying large quantities of consumer goods back to
China. The ships were moving after dark and it was possible that they were
engaged in smuggling the goods into China.
Mr. LI was very grateful for the
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