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PRIVACY MARKING
living.
DSR 11C (Revised 5/87)
Hong Kong Chinese ask why the boat people are
not promptly repatriated to Vietnam and compare their
treatment with that accorded to ethnic Chinese entering
Hong Kong illegally from China (some 20,000 per year) who
are sent back within 48 hours. There is a widespread
feeling that the first asylum policy and the problems
which that entails have been imposed on Hong Kong by HMG
and that Hong Kong has been left to pick up the bill.
There are increasingly strident calls for the policy of
first asylum to be abandoned or for HMG to face the
financial consequences.
In Confidence
Fourthly, and potentially most serious of all, the
political situation in Hong Kong has changed
significantly. Since the signing of the Sino-British
Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong, and
following the introduction in 1985 of indirectly elected
members, the Legislative Council (LEGCO) has become much
more assertive. LEGCO members, who see themselves as
representing the anger and frustration of local people,
have the power to block all further expenditure on boat
people by voting against the administration's proposals
in the Finance Committee. If that happened, the Governor
would have no alternative recourse to funds. He cannot
override their decision. On 3 May, in an unprecedented
vote, 11 members out of 46 voted against a proposal for
new expenditure on boat people.
against could be in a majority.
Next time the votes