CO129-604-5 Immigration- control over entry from China 4-3-1948 - 6-1-1949 — Page 80

(1)

Cutting from Sunday Herald dated 22. 2. 48.

H.K. IMMIGRATION

By H. G. W. Woodhead, CBE

Pessimism

Hong Kong Feb. 20. The civil war between the Nationalist forces and the Reds The facts speak for them- in North China and Manchuria selves in Manchuria and North- have reached a critical stage. ern China. But the feeling of Unless the Nanking forces pessimism has also spread to make a spectacular come back, South China. Manchuria will soon be entirely

A local Chinese journal reported a few days ago in the hands of the Commun- that defeatism ists. Red Armies occupy consi-

is prevailing among the officialdom, in Can- derable areas in North China, ton, of what it describes as the and operate freely over much "Chiang Kai-shek Dynasty," and larger areas, sabotaging indus- tries and communications, and expect Canton to become

even asserts that these officials "the making it perilous for foreign- next Mukden" and that house- ers, and non-Communist Chin- rents are falling in the suburbs ese to romain in the isolated because of fears that Canton centre in the interior. Red forces may become a future battle have been active in the Middle ground. There appears to Yangtze Valley, and only a few no justification for this fear so days ago, a considerable force far as the foreseeable future is of so-called "Liberationists" concerned, but that it should be (i.e. Communists) effected a voiced is evidence of a jittery seaborne invasion of the coast psychology, which, if not effec- a few miles South of Shanghai.tively counteracted may in the The British authorities are un- likely to take an unnecessarily alarmist view, so that when Britons in various centres in North to

be

The Myth

There is a myth, which has persisted for many years, that unrestricted Chinese immigration into the Colony is based upon some Anglo-Chinese Treaty, Con- vention, or Agreement. But this is only a myth. No such engage- ment has ever been entered into by the British Government. In fact, an Ordinance "to regulate the entry and departure cf per- sons into and out of the Colony, to prohibit the entry of undesir- able immigrants, and to confer various powers in connection therewith" known as "The Im- migration Control Ordinance" was approved by the Governor on November 29, 1940, and has never been revoked. The pro- posed regulation of immigration under this Ordinance did not exclude Chinese. It applied to persons arriving by sea or who by land,

might be required to produce visaed ous apprehension is felt for to-do in the Canton area. It is passports, Entry Permits, Fron- the safety of its nationals scarcely necessary to recall that tier Passes and Certificates British Govern-hundreds of thousands of of Residence, whenever so re- Chinese fled to the Colony be- quired by the local Government. tween 1938 and 1941, following A table of fees attached to the the Japanese invasion of South China. When Hong Kong

Ordinance provided for $2.00 for surrendered it

six-months, and $6.00 for was estimated that the local population

had two

years' Entry Permit, and risen from a nomal of under $2.00 a year for a Frontier pass, 900,000 to over 1,600,000. Dras- and Passport visa fees equivalent tic and often barbarous action to those 'levied by the Govern- ! by the Japanese during the oc- ment of a national desiring entry cupation reduced the popula- into the Colony. tion to less than 750,000. But

a

not distant future result in considerable exodus from the City of Rams.

China are advised Hong Kong is regarded as a consider withdrawal while haven of security by well-to-do communications permit it Chinese in all parts of the must be assumed that seri-country, and, by the less-well-

evacua-

by the ment. This warning was issued from Tientsin, coupled with ad- vice to the recipients to avoid the risk of a "double tion" by refraining from pro- ceeding to Peking "or any other North China city where evacua- tion may be found necessary in the near future. "The

areas

in which these warning notices have been circulated include

the whole of North and Central since Japan's surrender Chinese China East of Sian in Shensi,mmigrants have poured in

and Hankow, in Hupeh, and iti

at

population must be very close sands a month, and today the to, if it does not exceed, the es- timated 1,600,000 in 1941.

has been emphasized that since the rate of, often, tens of thou- extraterritoriality has been abolished Britons must depend upon the Chinese Government for protection, and that the British Government, in the event of an emergency, would be unable to furnish aircraft or other facilities for evacuation.

a

a

Page 80Page 81