Mr Murray
Parliamentary Unit
CONFIDENTIAL
91
oral reply
This PQ is at No 27 for behind 26 Pars to the Secretary of State for Scotland. It is unlikely to be reached,
but it is just possible that it may
Parliamentary
Tewit
b.
HONG KONG: PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION: MR PATRICK WALL MP
1.
I submit a draft reply, background note and notes for supplementaries to the oral Question tabled by Mr Patrick Wall MP (Conservative Haltemprice) for reply on 19 July.
2. Mr Wall is a member of the Anglo-Hong Kong Parliamentary Group, but has not tabled any Questions on Hong Kong within the last
two years.
3. The policy of repatriating illegal immigrants to Hong Kong is one that has attracted a certain amount of publicity recently, partly because of the parallel that some people have tried to draw with the case of East Europeans who were returned to their native countries in the period immediately after the war. There is, however, no valid comparison between the two cases. The policy adopted by the Hong Kong Government has recently been endorsed by the Secretary of State, and the information in the attached back- ground note can be used freely. The only sensitive points about the policy are the criteria used for deciding when, exceptionally, detained illegal immigrants may be allowed to stay, and the numbers who have been allowed to stay in this way. The Hong Kong Government are reluctant to give publicity to these points partly because this aspect of the policy is a sensitive issue with the Chinese, and partly because they feel that, if the criteria were widely known, would-be immigrants would be tempted to adjust their stories
to meet the requirements.
4. A further complication may arise from an incident on 10 July when two suspected illegal immigrants who were already on the Hong Kong side of the border were fired at from the Chinese side and apparently wounded. The wounded men were picked up and taken back to China. The Political Adviser in Hong Kong has taken up
this incident with the Chinese authorities, who are expected to
/take
...
CONFIDENTIAL
P.7.0
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.