GRS 500
CONFIDENTIAL
FM HONG KONG 0802ØØZ
TO PRIORITY F C O
CONFIDENTIAL
Ник
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DECEMBER-81..
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TELEGRAM NUMBER 1094 OF 08 DECEMBEREC1981
INFO ROUTINE PEKING HONG KONG GOVERNMENT OFFI
FFICE LONDON
(126)
LEGAL
No
YOUR TELNO 923: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MOTHERS
Action Tellen
undertook to
Clarly their to a problem
WE APPRECIATE THAT THIS IS AN EMOTIONAL AND DIFFICULT ISSUE, WHICH WE HAVE HANDLED CAREFULLY SINCE IT FIRST
EMERGED SOME MONTHS AGO.
тор
сору
2. WE KNOW OF 19 CASES OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS EITHER WAITING TO GIVE BIRTH OR HAVING DONE SO. 6 OF THEM SURFACED BETWEEN JUNE TO OCTOBER 1981, WHILE THE REMAINING 13 HAVE COME TO LIGHT SINCE NOVEMBER. SO FAR 8 HAVE BEEN REMOVED TO CHINA (2 OF THEM BEFORE CONFINEMENT ON BEING CERTIFIED MEDICALLY AS BEING FIT FOR TRAVEL, WHILE THE OTHER 6 HAD THEIR BABIES BUT DECIDED ENTIRELY VOLUNTARILY TO LEAVE THEIR CHILD IN THE CARE OF THEIR HUSBAND OR HIS FAMILY. REMOVAL ORDERS HAVE BEEN SERVED ON 7 CASES
AND THEY ARE ALL SUBJECT OF APPEAL UNDER THE USUAL APPEALS PROCEDURE. THE REMAINING 4 HAVE NOT YET HAD THEIR BABIES.
3. THE PROBLEM OF COURSE ARISES FROM THE ORIGINAL DECISION OF THE HUSBAND EITHER TO COME TO HONG KONG (OFTEN ILLEGALLY) LEAVING HIS WIFE BEHIND IN CHINA, OR OF MARRYING A GIRL IN CHINA - AND MOST OF THE RECENT CASES ARE IN THIS CATEGORY AND THEN ARRANGING FOR HER TO COME HERE ILLEGALLY. IF WE WERE TO RELAX OUR POLICY SO THAT ALL PREGNANT MOTHERS WHOSE HUSBANDS WERE IN HONG KONG COULD ENTER AND HAVE THEIR BABIES HERE, WE WOULD FACE THE PROSPECT OF THOUSANDS OF SUCH CASES. THE CHOICE THEREFORE IS THAT IF THE FAMILY WISH TO BE REUNITED, THEN THE FATHER CAN RETURN TO CHINA WITH THE BABY.
4. LOCAL OPINION CONTINUES IN SUPPORT OF THE POLICY. WHEN THE FIRST CASE SURFACED THE GENERAL FEELING WAS THAT THE I I MOTHER SHOULD BE SENT BACK, ALTHOUGH THERE WAS SOME INITIAL SYMPATHY FOR THE PLIGHT OF THE FAMILY CONCERNED. AS MORE CASES EMERGED, ATTITUDES HARDENED. PEOPLE NOW SUGGEST THAT MOTHERS AND CHILDREN SHOULD RETURN TO CHINA AND THE MOTHERS MAY SUBSEQUENTLY APPLY TO ENTER HONG KONG IN THE NORMAL
WY. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A FEW PRO-KMT NEWSPAPERS AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWS MEDIA AT THE INITIAL STAGE, WHICH CONCENTRATED ON THE ''DIVISION OF THE FAMILY'', THE PRESS HAS GENERALLY AGREED THAT THESE I I MOTHERS SHOULD BE REPATRIATED. (SEE ALSO P 28 OF FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW OF 4 - 10 DECEMBER).
MACLEHOSE
LIMITED
HK&GD
FED
MR DONALD
attached to
130
THIS TELEGRAM
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euro
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CONFIDENTIAL