XN000022-1990-11-28 — Page 8

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"THIS IS A COMPLEX AND DIFFICULT PROCESS,

H

MR ASPREY SAID.

CAMPS

HE STRESSED THAT THERE WERE STILL SOME 30,000 VBP IN AWAITING SCREENING, AND THE PROCESS OF STATUS DETERMINATION INEVITABLY TOOK TIME.

"WE ARE WORKING HARD TO SECURE THE RETURN OF ALL NON-REFUGEES TO VIETNAM, AND I AM PLEASED TO BE ABLE TO SAY THAT THE REPATRIATION PROGRAMME IS NOW DEVELOPING MOMENTUM.

"BUT HOWEVER FAST THE PROGRAMME DEVELOPS AND I HOPE IT WILL DEVELOP VERY QUICKLY

THE PROCESS OF REPATRIATING ALL THE NON-REFUGEES WILL TAKE TIME," HE SAID.

MR ASPREY WITH THE

TURNING ΤΟ THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM CHINA, EXPLAINED THAT THE GOVERNMENT HAD ALSO TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS CHINESE TO RETURN AS ILLEGAL IMMGRANTS ALL THOSE VIETNAMESE, OF WHOM THERE WERE NOW SOME 200 IN HONG KONG, WHO HAD COME HERE AFTER PREVIOUSLY BEING SETTLED IN CHINA.

"WE AIM TO SECURE THEIR REPATRIATION AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE, THIS PROCESS TOO INEVITABLY TAKES TIME, HE ADDED.

BUT

MR ASPREY NOTED THAT OF EVEN MORE CONCERN, HOWEVER, WAS THE INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM CHINA THIS YEAR.

IN THE FIRST 10 MONTHS OF THIS YEAR SOME 24,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS HAD BEEN ARRESTED, AN INCREASE OF 91 PER CENT WHEN COMPARED WITH THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR.

HE POINTED OUT THAT MANY OF THESE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WERE ARRESTED ON CONSTRUCTION SITES OR AT OTHER PLACES OF EMPLOYMENT.

"PART OF THE REASON FOR THIS RECENT SURGE IN ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS DELIBERATE MISREPRESENTATION AND THE SPREADING OF FALSE RUMOURS BY THE * SNAKEHEADS' INVOLVED IN THE TRAFFICKING IN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

"IT IS NECESSARY TO RETAIN STRONG SANCTIONS AGAINST THOSE WHO ENGAGE IN THIS TRADE, MR ASPREY STRESSED.

"T

MR ASPREY EXPLAINED THAT THE GOVERNMENT WOULD REVIEW THE POSITION AGAIN BEFORE THE END OF NEXT YEAR.

THE MOTION WAS APPROVED.

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