14-JUL-1993 16:36
JAMES LEE
0494536249
P.19
- FOREIGN AFFAIRS SELECT
TRANSCRIPT B MR. ALASTAIR GOODLAD
COMMITTEE 14 JULY 1993
18
It is perfectly true that in some areas, particularly Sijan
(phon), there are ethnic minorities on the Chinese side who have
cousins on the other side of the border. For the time being,
those on the Chinese side of the border are better off and
therefore I don't think that there is any very strong pull towards
the non-Chinese side of the border that could change in time but
at the moment it doesn't represent, I think, a very serious
threat.
CHAIRMAN:
Just going back to the sort of military scene, if there was 'a
crackdown in China or even a very sharp economic fall, have we thought about the impact on Hong Kong in terms of refugees flooding to get in? I gather a lot of money is already coming
into Hong Kong from China. Have we thought through the problems that could raise for Hong Kong?
MR. ALASTAIR GOODLAD:
The Hong Kong government has had to live with enormous incursions of people for a long time and not only from Hong Kong but from Viet Nam too and there are slightly worrying signs of Chinese people of Vietnamese origin coming in in the last few days so the Hong Kong government is all too aware of the dangers of that
happening. They get hot money flowing in whenever there is trouble anywhere and if there is unrest which leads to a rush of illegal immigrants, the Hong Kong government will cope as best they can in conjunction with the Chinese authorities.