RESTRICTED
065 MDLOAN 7599
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
But if decisive action is surges experienced in 1987 and 1988.
not taken now, a crisis of similar proportions may well develop. In the past, you have urged us to clear the camps in Hong Kong as quickly as possible, and not to allow Hong Kong to become a pole of attraction for Vietnamese migrants. China has criticised
We now have a Vietnam for not accepting its own migrants back. situation in which the camp population in Hong Kong is expanding because of the recent influx of migrants coming from China.
We urge the Chinese authorities to agree urgently to accept the new arrivals back to China, together with any further ECVII's in similar circumstances who arrive in the near future. Specifically, we would like to propose a new arrangement for handling these cases, whereby the Hong Kong Government would give you lists of new arrivals whom we propose to return, with details of each. You could then do what you need to verify these, on the, understanding that after a period of two weeks all individuals to whom you have not raised specific objections will be returned.
In addition, to deal with the immediate problem and send out a clear deterrent message, we need now to send back those who have clear deterrent message, we need now to send back those who have already arrived. I should be grateful for your agreement that we may do this during the next week - on a one-off basis and without prejudice to whatever arrangements we agree for the Longer term.
We would also be grateful if the authorities concerned could urgently take any other appropriate measures, such as the stepping up of border controls, which might help to prevent ECVII's from coming to Hong Kong. ENDS
PAGE 2 RESTRICTED