VIII. SECURITY
CONFIDENTIAL
51.
Her Majesty's Government has announced that it will be
withdrawing the Second Battalion 7th Gurkha Rifles from Hong Kong in
1987, and that the battalion will be disbanded leaving a garrison of
on e British and three Gurkha battalions.
is a reduction to
1980 levels.
Rifles was raised at
This
The Second Battalion 7th Gurkha
that time as a stop-gap measure to deal with increased illegal
immigration. Her Majesty's Government, in consultation with the
Hong Kong Government, has also announced that it will not be
proceeding with the
Territories.
construction of the Kohima
Barracks in the New
52.
Notwithstanding
The
and
amnes ty
announcement
true.
The
of more
the overall reduction in illegal immigration
there was an increase in the numbers attempting to enter Hong Kong
illegally in middle and late 1985. Arrests for
for this period averaged
1,250 persons per month, that is 30 percent up on the same period
last year, or approximately 15 percent of the level in 1979.
reasons for the increase appear to be rumours of an
decreased levels of border security due to the recent
of a reduction in the garrison, neither of
of which a re
increase may also be in part as a result of the in troduction
sophisticated detection equipment along the border earlier this
year. Intelligence evaluation shows that the percentage of those
who evade the security forces at the border out of the total numbers
that attempt to Cross has decreased dramatically from 53 percent in
1979 to 10 percent in 1985. Subsequent arrests of evaders in
have resulted areas
rates of arrest in the last few years
which are probably close to 100 per cent.
border Cross
consultations with the Chinese authorities have been held to try to
stem the recent increase.
urban
in
the
IX.
CONCLUSION
53.
The signing of the Joint Declaration, which confirmed that the
United Kingdom would remain responsible for the administration of
Hong Kong
to 30 June 1997, and which spelled ou t the basic
policies of
of the People's Republic of China regarding Hong Kong for
up
17
CONFIDENTIAL