CONFIDENTIAL
person cannot be said to be seeking political asylum in terms of the Universal Declaration unless he specifically asks for Our procedure provides for every illegal immigrant to be asked a series of questions which enable us to assess whether he is eligible for release under the criteria mentioned in paragraph 1; and in cases of doubt we tend to err on the side of leniency.
4. All this applies only to illegal immigrants caught in the act of entering the Colony. We do not repatriate those who have once evaded the control apparatus on entry and only subsequently come to notice in the Colony. The C.P.G. authorities have themselves hitherto refused to accept back people who have been in Hong Kong much more than 10 days.
5. If you should have to discuss this subject with the M.F.A. we suggest simply that you should say that our policy remains as it has always been. Each case is considered on its merits and normally we repatriate illegal immigrants to China unless there are special reasons why they should not return. (b), (c) and (d) in paragraph 1 could be quoted as examples but mention of (a) might lead to argument and be counter productive. It should be added, however, that in any case we are not prepared to use force to repatriate anyone and we had thought that our policy in this respect was in practice understood by the C.P.G.
(Passed as requested)
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F.E.D. J.I.P.G.D. J.I.R.D.
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