ད་ལས་དང་བས་ད་བར་ན་ཡང་ བས་ ་་་་་་་ %ག་པར་དུ་ས་
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Kong, but some indication may be obtained from the fact that of the 102,865 Overseas Chinese and Non-Cantonese (not including CPG Passport holders) who arrived Hong Fong after 1st July 1972 and who were landed on 12-months' limitation of stay, 9,953 of them have not (as at 31.12.1977) applied for extensions of stay. This may suggest that they are no longer living in Hong Kong, though some of them might have simply neglected to apply for extensions. Of the CPG Passport holders (without visas to third countries), it is estimated by the Director of Immigration that only 25% of them would eventually leave Hong Kong. Bearing in mind the possibility of a wide margin of error, one could assume that about 90% of the overseas Chinese and non-Cantonese group and 75% of the CFG Passport holders group eventually becomes permanent additions to the population of Hong Kong.
Chinese Attitude to Immigration Control (Cn Entry from China) in Hong Kong
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The Chinese authorities' official attitude is, and has always been, that Hong Kong is a Chinese territory temporarily ' under British administration, and not a "British territory". They claim that there is a traditional right for Chinese nationals to enter (and leave) Hong Kong. Consequently, they have never officially recognized the legality of any system of quota for entry of Chinese nationals into "Chinese territory", i.e. Hong Kong (although they do apply for visas for their officials coming to Hong Kong). They did not apparently recognize our distinction between quota and non-quota entrants, as they did not consider that Cantonese and Non-Cantonese should be treated differently.
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However, for political and economic reasons, it is probably in China's interest to prevent any large-scale exodus of
legal" Chinese emigrants to Hong Kong, as well as illegal emigrants (except for periods like 1962/63). Hence, the control on entry of legal immigrants from China, exercised by Hong Kong authorities between 1951 and 1967, served Chinese interests. quota system would not have worked between 1951 and 1967 had there not been unofficial cooperation, or at least connivance, from Chinese border authorities. Even during the mass exodus of 1962/63, we were still able to maintain the quota of legal immigrants though Chinese were then entering Hong Kong illegally in terms of hundreds, and even at times thousands, per day.
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The
Even after the lapse of our quota and entry permit systems in 1967, the number of legal immigrants from China, in general, did not exceed 50 per day, until 1973 when the number of legal immigrants from China escalated to an unacceptable level. It was then proposed, by the H.K. Government, to reimpose immigration control at the border. The CPG authorities, however, objected strongly and as a result the proposal was shelved.
The CFG authorities then took steps to restrict the number of legal entrants from China, and the numbers gradually declined to just over 50 per day in 1976. It is believed that this resulted from CFG authorities understanding that it would be difficult for Hong Kong to absorb large numbers of new immigrants. The figure of 50 per day was in fact mentioned as a desirable level of (legal) immigration from China in talks between HMG and CPG at Peking in 1973. In November, 1974, agreement was. reached between Hong Kong and the Kwangtung Frovincial authorities for the repatriation of illegal immigrants from China arrested on entry. (This was, in effect, a resumption of the practice which existed before 1967), The main objective, for
CONFIDENTIAL /the Hong Kong
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