16 JULY
SPEAKING NOTE
EX-CHINA VIETNAMESE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS (ECVIIʼS)
In the past three weeks, there has been a new and alarming surge in arrivals in Hong Kong of ECVII's. The numbers involved are already causing us concern: if the surge continues it will create serious problems. We would be grateful for the urgent assistance of China in stemming the flow of new arrivals.
No ECVII's arrived in Hong Kong in 1992. The flow picked up in January 1993 but the current surge began on 25 June. Since then, almost 600 have arrived, with new boats reaching Hong Kong almost every day.
All of the arrivals in this period have told us that they have come from Guangxi Province. All have lived in China since 1979 or earlier and are ethnic Chinese. They have explained that they came to Hong Kong because the local authorities in Guangxi had demolished the homes which they had built. They have claimed that as many as 7,000 homes have been demolished in this way, making up to 40,000 people homeless. Pictures of the demolition have now appeared in the Hong Kong press. And the Deputy Secretary General of Beihai Municipality has been quoted as saying that the migrants would "stay in Hong Kong for a long time". This reported statement causes us great
concern.
If urgent action is not taken to deter the migrants, many more of those who have recently lost their homes will almost certainly try to follow the recent arrivals to Hong Kong. Some may already be on their way. Experience has shown that the only effective way to discourage further arrivals is for those who arrive in Hong Kong to be returned rapidly to China.
Two earlier episodes support this conclusion. The largest influx of ECVII's into Hong Kong was from June to September 1987, with the arrival of over 7,400. With the cooperation of the Chinese authorities, all of these were returned to Guangdong and Guangxi before the end of the year. There was a further influx in October 1988 with around 760 arrivals. Again with the assistance of the Chinese authorities, these were returned with minimum delay. In both cases, the early return to China of the new arrivals proved an effective deterrent to others who might have been contemplating coming to Hong Kong. Immediately after the returns, the numbers of arrivals fell sharply.
The number of recent arrivals is not yet on the same scale as the surges experienced in 1987 and 1988. But if decisive