EX-CHINA VIETNAMESE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
Background
1.
Hong Kong were mildly encouraged by the tone of the NCNA response when this matter was raised with them last week. However we are still waiting for an official Chinese reaction to our proposals for the rapid return of the ECVIIS.
2.
Due to an agreement with the Guangdong Province authorities, Hong Kong is able to repatriate Chinese illegal immigrants the
same day they are caught. But illegal Vietnamese immigrants have in the past spent up to a year in Hong Kong before China has accepted them back.
The attached speaking note (handed to the Chinese charge
d'affaires on Friday 16 July) gives the background to the recent
influx, and the situation as it stood at the end of last week.
3.
ecviis.backbrief