X
30 March 1992
J S Wall Esq
CONFIDENTIAL
SECRET
HKD OISTI 015/1
Sent to FED. Miss Logan.
31/31
22
10 Downing Street
REC
See 23
P 99
IN.
2131
CALL BY MR STEPHEN NG AND MR LAU SHAN-CHING
1. We consulted Hong Kong about the letter dated 8 March
from Susan Whitfield, Chairwoman of the 'June 4 China
Support Group'. Hong Kong tell us that the claim that several Consuls-General met in 1989 and agreed a quota of Chinese refugees whom their country would accept is incorrect. What actually happened is that Hong Kong held
several meetings with those Consuls-General whom they
thought would be most disposed to help with the flow of
Chinese asylum seekers. No quota was asked of or agreed
by any country. But a list of those refugees that had
been allowed to remain in Hong Kong and who wished to
move on, or whom the authorities thought it would be
dangerous politically to have remain, was circulated.
Several countries subsequently accepted some of the refugees. At the moment there is only one refugee left waiting to be settled.
2.
In the case of Ms Tang Ri-mei, we have been told that she does not have a valid case for political asylum. Following a civil dispute with her employers, she and her
companion Yang Zhenguo fled to Hong Kong in
December 1991 where they applied for political asylum. As the case was complicated by difficulties, potentially