XN000022-1979-06-07 — Page 2

THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 1979

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ADDITIONAL 500,000 PEOPLE COULD BE IN HK NEXT SUMMER

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MORE THAN 500,000 LEGAL AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM CHINA AND VIETNAMESE REFUGEES COULD COME TO HONG KONG IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS.

THE SECRETARY FOR INFORMATION, MR. DAVID FORD, SAID THIS TODAY (THURSDAY) AT A LUNCHEON MEETING OF THE Y'S MEN CLUB.

HE SAID THAT BY THE SUMMER OF NEXT YEAR SOME 365,000 ADDITIONAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, 36,000 ADDITIONAL LEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM THE MAINLAND AND AT LEAST 225,000 VIETNAMESE REFUGEES COULD BE IN HONG KONG.

+ IN VERY SIMPLE TERMS THE PRESENT RATE OF IMMIGRATION WOULD YIELD AT LEAST 1.5 MILLION IN THREE YEARS, HE SAID.

+AND IF THAT IS TO BE SET IN SOME SORT OF CONTEXT MAY I REMIND YOU THAT THE GOVERNMENT'S 10-YEAR HOUSING PROGRAMME WHICH WAS RIGHTLY HAILED IN 1972 AS BEING IMAGINATIVE AND AMBITIOUS HAD AS ITS TARGET THE RE-HOUSING OF 1.8 MILLION (WHO WERE IN HONG KONG AT THAT TIME) OVER A PERIOD OF 10 YEARS,

MR. FORD SAID ALTHOUGH IT WOULD APPEAR THAT CONCERN AMONG THE COMMUNITY HAD BEEN CENTRED ON THE VIETNAMESE REFUGEE PROBLEM, THE FACTS WERE THAT SO FAR THE PROBLEM OF IMMIGRATION FROM VIETNAM WAS SOMEWHAT INSIGNIFICANT WHEN SET AGAINST RECENT FIGURES FOR LEGAL AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION FROM CHINA.

HE SAID THAT AS FAR AS IMMIGRATION FROM CHINA IS CONCERNED THERE IS ONLY SO MUCH WE CAN DO.

+SINCE SEPTEMBER 1978 IN AN ATTEMPT TO CURB THE ILLEGAL INFLOW, WE HAVE DEPLOYED ON OUR BORDERS WITH CHINA FOUR TIMES AS MANY SOLDIERS, THREE TIMES AS MANY POLICEMEN AND TVICE THE NUMBER OF MARINE VESSELS EVEN THE GOVERNOR'S LAUNCH HAS NOW BEEN PRESSED INTO SERVICE,+ HE DECLARED.

+THE HONG KONG REGIMENT IS PROVIDING A SUBSTANTIAL ADDITIONAL EFFORT BY DEPLOYING TWO SQUADRONS ON ANTI-ILLEGAL OPERATIONS.

+WE ARE SPENDING $13 MILLION ON STRENGTHENING THE EXISTING BORDER FENCE AND BUILDING A NEW SECURITY FENCE.

+BUT UNLESS WE WERE TO BUILD A BERLIN WALL OR DEPLOY THE TOTAL STRENGTH OF THE BRITISH ARMY ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE BORDER AND ON THE FLANKS, MORE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO ENTER HONG KONG ILLEGALLY UNLESS OUR NEIGHBOURS ACROSS THE BORDER CAN EXERT MORE CONTROL,+ HE SAID.

MR. FORD SAID FAILURE BY EITHER SIDE TO CURB THE INCREASING FIGURES COULD LEAD TO GROWING RESENTMENT, A DECREASE IN THE STANDARD OF LIVING IN OUR COMMUNITY AS WELL AS OTHER PROBLEMS,

/HE EMPHASISED