Hong Kong believe that this breakdown is also typical of legal immigration before 1975.
4. The 1974 agreement also had a marked effect on the numbers trying to enter Hong Kong illegally. The 1975 figure for those caught dropped by more than 80% compared to the previous year from 7,150 to 1,173 and there was a further decrease in 1976. In 1977 the figure rose to 1,779 and so far this year the figure is running at an annual rate of 2,550. This upward trend is somewhat worrying, though the figures are still well below the 1974 level. The number of those caught represents, however, only a small proportion of those known to have entered illegally, estimated at around 20%. It is the practice of the Hong Kong Government to accept that once immigrants have evaded capture in the New Territories, they are safe from future action and will not be repatriated.
5.
Since the repatriation policy was introduced, about 4,800 people have been returned to China after being caught trying to enter Hong Kong illegally. 70% of these were aged between 16-25. (A further 24% were between the ages of 26-35.) Full information is not available about what happens to them once they go back to China. The Chinese maintain that this is an internal matter and the Hong Kong Government have never tried to obtain formal assurances about the treatment meted out to those returned. However, such information as is available (for example, from people caught making a second attempt after already having been repatriated) suggests that those returned have not suffered unduly harsh treatment. In addition, assurances have been given in confidential exchanges with communist officials (which cannot be mentioned publicly), that the Chinese authorities normally regard escape to Hong Kong as a civil misdemeanour calling for measures of "social education" and fines rather than more severe punishment. (There is, however, evidence that harsher punishment, including in one reported case, execution, is given to people who profit from organizing illegal exit from China.) 6. Not all illegal immigrants are returned to China. Every case is treated on its individual merits. The criteria used
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