TNAG-0803-FCO40-1007-Immigration-from-China-to-Hong-Kong-1979 — Page 16

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH

21 December 1978

(185)

From The Minister of State

THE RT HON THE LORD GORONI

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ROBERTS

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RECEIVED IN REGISTRY RO. 51 29 DEC 1978

DESK OF INDEX

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REG TRY

Action Ten

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Thank you for your letter of 8 December, asking for advice on how you should reply to Sir John Tilney's enquiry about illegal immigration from China into Hong Kong.

I am sure you are aware of the background to the policy of repatriating illegal immigrants caught trying to enter Hong Kong from China. The policy was introduced in 1974, when the number of people arriving in Hong Kong from China rose to such an extent that there was a real threat to the maintenance and improvement of social services in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Government have always applied the policy as humanely as possible. Each individual case

case is considered on its merits, and where there are special humanitarian or other circumstances which make it inappropriate for a particular immigrant to be sent back to China, the repatriation policy is not enforced. As I made clear in replying to a question by Lord Segal in the House of Lords on 4 February 1975, special circumstances in this context would certainly include those who were refugees from political persecution. Thus my remarks in the Foreign Affairs debate on 8 November did not represent any modification of existing policy.

Sir John Tilney's correspondent asks how we define a political refugee in this context. It is not the policy of the Hong Kong Government to publicise the exact criteria they use

criteria they use in deciding who they will allow to stay, for the obvious reason that to do so would simply indicate to would-be immigrants the line they should adopt to have the best chance of being allowed to stay. But in general, they use the accepted definition of a political refugee as somebody who is fleeing from persecution for his political beliefs. The majority of illegal immigrants arriving in Hong Kong do not claim to be fleeing from persecution. They are mostly people, often from rural areas, who have been attracted to Hong Kong by the prospects of a higher material standard of living. We have no evidence to suggest that any of those who have been sent back to China have been treated unduly harshly on their return.

Sir Paul Bryan DSO MC MP

House of Commons

LONDON SW1A OAA

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