CONFIDENTIAL
3.
emigrate "in future". In North District, the 1987 Annual Report to Parliament is perceived to have "grossly underplayed" the problem of emigration. A reporter in Kowloon City said that more than half the 20 senior journalists he knew to have emigrated over the past three years had since returned to Hong Kong because in general they found it difficult to settle, could not get job satisfaction and in some cases encountered "racial discrimination".
An elected District Board member in the urban area has decided not
to stand for re-election. Ostensibly, he does not wish to oppose a friendly rival. Privately, he is said to have been accepted for emigration to the USA. From Southern comes a report of an increased number of holidaymakers to Australia and New Zealand for the purpose of "reconnaissance".
United Front Activity
8.
The NCNA has approached the Industrialists' Association
in no fewer than six rural and urban districts with an offer of land for industrial use as a means of helping to alleviate Hong Kong's labour shortage. In Eastern, a number of pro-China organisations have joined forces with the North Point Kaifong Welfare Advancement Association to raise funds for the Community Chest. In Central & Western, the NCNA Central District Office is
continuing with its programme of visits to schools. In Kwun Tong, informed observers regarded XU Jiatun's attendance at the fifth anniversary celebration of Meeting Point as a tactic to demonstrate China's openness towards Hong Kong. But conservative District Board members feared that XU's attendance lent respectability to Meeting Point and were disturbed that China appeared to regard pressure groups as a significant political force in Hong Kong.
Assessments Unit,
Security Branch SGD 7/01
CONFIDENTIAL
27 January, 1988
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