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FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW! September 5, 1968
Hearts or Heads? THE
HE pathetic efforts of a small Chinese
fishing fleet to elude Marine Police Patrols and find refuge in Hongkong created an agonising dilemma, not just for the Government but for the com- munity as a whole. The Director of Im- migration, Mr W. E. Collard, was forced to adopt a tough hard-headed attitude in public towards the plight of these would- be refugees, although eventually they were treated with official sympathy.
The determined efforts which the fishermen and their families made to land in the Colony stirred the community's conscience. The bulk of the adult popu- lation of Hongkong has its own memories of fleeing from wars, political upheavals and economic disasters in China. The general feeling of the man in the street
is undoubtedly that Hongkong should play its traditional role of offering sanc- tuary whenever violence shakes the lives of his fellow Cantonese across the frontier.
During the May inilux 1962, when Hongkong was in grave danger of being completely swamped by immigrants from Kwangung, there was considerable re- sentent amongst the general pub lic about police and military sweeps o push the refugees back across the border.
The Government is forced to take a very different view, although senior civil servants share the same feelings of re- vulsion as the man in the street at the thought of driving people back to China when they have looked for safety in Hongkong. The dilemma for those res- ponsible for deciding immigration policy is that they have no way of knowing how
HONGKONG
AFFAIRS
many thousands would pour in if fron- tier controls were relaxed even frac- tionally. The trickle of Chinese who suc- ceed in entering the Colony in normal. times can be dealt with according to humane considerations. But when Southern China is wracked by civil dis- orders and grave uncertainty about the intentions of political extremists trying to seize power, common sense dictates that a texitory as poor as Hongkong must in- evitably do everything possible to deter any massive influx. Nevertheless, it is to the credit of the community as a whole. that it instinctively supports the case of those seeking shelter in Hongkong, even though the ordinary resident knows full well what strains would be imposed on housing, education, medical and other services if the Colony had to accom- modate thousands of new immigrants.
THE CROSS-HARBOUR TUNNEL: Negotiations on this vast project are still in progress in London. This week, the Review publishes an account of the problems which the Tunnel Company has run into and reveals the Hongkong Government's attitude towards the Company's invitation to invest in the undertaking. Transport planning has been seriously affected by the lack of any firm decision on the tunnel, and the Colony has still to make up its mind just how badly it needs this link between Hongkong and Kowloon.
In the Balancs
By George W. Loo
D
ESPITE the questions in Legislative Council last month, the fate of the cross-harbour tunnel project has still not been clarified. Negotiations on the financial backing for this giant undertaking (estimated to involve a total cost of $280 million) have been going on in London since last year. Several visits to Britain by senior officials of the Tunnel Company, and discussions in London on the subject by Hongkong Govern-
ment officials, have apparently done little to speed up the agonisingly slow pace at which an agreement is being ham- mered out. The optimism that overwhelmed the public earlier this year about an early start for the cross-harbour tunnel ap- pears to have been replaced by an air of uncertainty which has created serious headaches for all those concerned with plan- ning the transport facilities of Hongkong for the next decade.
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