C
DATE:
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دیا
Mr Saying (
ра мастичное
12 April 1990
PS/Mr Maude
for 1874
PS/Lord Brabazon Mr McLaren
Mr Colvin, SEAD Mr Paul, HKD
Mr Haswell, HKD
PS/Governor, Hong Kong Mr Heap, SBTC, Hong Kong HMA, Hanoi
Mr Hewitt, UKMis Geneva Chancery, Washington
Ry184
Miss Maysoin
Miss Mejor
W 18/4
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HK60206
23 APR 1888
Mr Davies FED
CALL ON THE GOVERNOR OF MACAO
Mr Maude called on the Governor of Macao on 7 April for half an hour. They discussed:
1.
Macao's Basic Law. Melancia said that China's choice of Portuguese representatives for their BLDC was an encouraging sign.
Recent Disturbances. Melancia explained that the 45,000 Chinese illegal immigrants in Macao represented 9% of its population. Perhaps 12,000 would be registered, leaving a problem with the remaining 33,000. There was good cooperation with the Chinese frontier control authorities.
VBP. Mr Maude said that many of the arrivals in Hong Kong this year seemed to have come through Macao. He hoped cooperation could be intensified. Melancia said this had been studied a number of times, with Hong Kong, and with the UNHCR. Many boats did pass Macao, but less than 10 or 12% asked for help; humanitarian aid was given. More help than necessary might have been given in the past, but not at the peak of the problem. It was not true that Vietnamese travelled to Macao by land and took boats from there nearby perhaps but not from Macao itself. He stressed the scale of problem there would be if Macao were to open its doors to VBP, given Macao's small population. 50,000 VBP would be 10% of Macao's population, but was only 1% of Hong Kong's. Macao currently had 360 VBP, but none had arrived in the last 2 or 3 years; their first idea was to get to Hong Kong. Mr Maude said it was surprising more did not want to stay in Macao, which was the first territory of first asylum
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