SPEAKING NOTE
EX-CHINA VIETNAMESE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS (ECVII'S)
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.
مك
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.