XN000022-1980-01-10 — Page 3

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 1980

SIR JACK: YES, AND IF I DO, PERHAPS IT'S SOMETHING WHICH IS BUILT

INTO ME THAT I DO TEND TO, OF COURSE CAN'T MISS THIS TREMENDOUS DEVELOPMENT THAT HAS TAKEN PLACE, THAT IS THE MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY SYSTEM, ALL AROUND US BUILDINGS GOING UP, NEW ROADS BEING BUILT, OUR ECONOMY BOOMING AWAY, AND THIS IS GREAT.

BUT IT SEEMS TO ME AT TIMES TOO, THAT PERHAPS WHAT ONE TENDS TO FORGET IS THAT PEOPLE ARE ACHIEVING THIS AND GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE CONCERNED WITH PEOPLE. I TEND TO EMPHASISE, PERHAPS THIS IS RIGHT, THE ROLE OF PEOPLE IN THIS. I THINK THAT IS PARAMOUNT. IT IS A BIT OF A PARADOX PERHAPS BUT IT IS ALSO PEOPLE, I THINK, THAT ARE OUR MAIN PROBLEM FOR THE COMING YEARS.

INTERVIEWER: WHAT DO YOU SEE IS PERHAPS THE MAJOR PROBLEMS THAT WE

ARE GOING TO FACE IN THE EIGHTIES?

SIR JACK: WELL WE ENDED 1979 WITH A VERY SERIOUS PROBLEM OF

IMMIGRATION, BOTH LEGAL AND ILLEGAL, FROM CHINA. IT IS STILL WITH US. WE HAVE HAD PROMISES FROM CHAIRMAN HUA GUOFENG IN LONDON AND DENG XIAOPING IN PEKING AND MORE RECENTLY GOVERNOR XI, THE GOVERNOR OF GUANGDONG, THAT SOMETHING WOULD BE DONE ABOUT IT. AND AS WE KNOW, FROM THE FIRST OF JANUARY NEW LAWS HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED, A NEW CAMPAIGN AGAINST EMIGRATION FROM CHINA TO HONG KONG.

SO AT THIS PRECISE MOMENT IN TIME IT IS DIFFICULT TO SAY HOW THIS WILL GO. HOPEFULLY THE IR PLANS WILL MATERIALISE AND THEIR PLANS WILL BE SUCCESSFUL AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION WILL NOT BE THE PROBLEM THAT IT WAS THIS LAST YEAR. BUT IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THE CHINESE HAVE AN ENORMOUS PROBLEM TOO.

SINCE THE OVERTHROW OF THE GANG OF FOUR, SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF THE FOUR MODERNISATIONS, GREATER LIBERALISM, THERE HAS UNDOUBTEDLY BEEN A GREAT DEAL OF FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT IN SOUTH CHINA, SOCIAL DISCIPLINE PERHAPS IN THE COMMUNES HAS TENDED TO BREAK DOWN. THE 'DOWN TO THE COUNTRYSIDE YOUTH MOVEMENT' IS A THING OF THE PAST. AND SO WE HAVE LARGE NUMBERS OF YOUNG PEOPLE MOVING AROUND ESPECIALLY HERE IN SOUTH CHINA. AND MANY OF THEM CLEARLY WOULD LIKE TO COME TO HONG KONG. IN FACT I WAS LOOKING AT FIGURES THIS MORNING WHICH INDICATE THAT PROBABLY SOMETHING LIKE HALF A MILLION THIS LAST YEAR ATTEMPTED TO LEAVE THE VILLAGES AND COME TO HONG KONG, AND AS WE KNOW, UNHAPPILY MAINLY WAS SUCCESSFUL, UNHAPPILY AS FAR AS HONG KONG IS CONCERNED.

AND SO THIS IS A PROBLEM WITH US NOW BUT MAYBE THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS OR SO WILL SHOW AN IMPROVEMENT. BUT WHILST

THE STANDARDS OF LIVING BETWEEN HONG KONG AND THOSE IN GUANGDONG, WHILST THERE IS THIS DIFFERENTIAL, I WOULD IMAGINE THERE WOULD BE THE DESIRE STILL IN YOUNG PEOPLE'S MINDS ESPECIALLY TO COME TO HONG KONG.

/INTERVIEWER: