TNAG-0803-FCO40-1007-Immigration-from-China-to-Hong-Kong-1979 — Page 8

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BRITISH EMBASSY

Ely

willlope

fuz

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349/1

CC Hayward Esq

Far Eastern Dept

FCO

London SW1

HKK

341/1

PEKING

29 December 1978

-9 JAN

14

Des

7

L

Dear Chris,

CONSULAR CASES

1. I called on Gao Zhikun (Kao Ch'ih-k'un), Acting Director of Consular Department today to hand over an updated list of cases (copy attached). In doing so I made the usual remarks about the unofficial nature of our representations and our appreciation of the number of cases where exit visas had been issued over the past six months.

2. There have, of course, been a considerable number of solved cases: eleven completely and a further six where one member of a family has been allowed to travel. (You will note that the layout of our list has been altered accordingly). No doubt the majority of solved cases have more to do with the revised overseas Chinese policy, though, than with action taken by ourselves and Consular Department.

3. I made special mention once again of

Gao confirmed that her local authorities' request to her to fill in new application forms meant that an exit visa would probably shortly be issued. I also pointed to the case of

who although

only newly added to the list, had her original application approved as long ago as 1973.

4. In reply Gao stressed that China's policy was to encourage contact between Chinese and their relatives abroad and to approve applications for permanent settle- ment abroad where there were family ties. There were a few cases, as he was sure we understood (I did not reply) where the applicant's "actual situation" made it impossible for the local authorities to agree to their departure: investigations also taook a long time, especially as the numbers of applicants increased.

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5. There was nevertheless also a problem for the central authorities in giving guidance on exit visa policy. China was being subjected. to a double-edged propoganda attack: on the one hand she was accused of inhumanitarian policies in preventing her citizens from travelling abroad, on the other it was suggested that she was exporting her population in order to carry out subersion in host countries. This propoganda stemmed mainly from the Soviet Union, but concern was also expressed in other quarters, sometimes genuinely, about the problem of large numbers of Chinese residents in certain countries. Especially South-East Asian countries were unwilling to accept large numbers of Chinese who wanted to join or even visit their relatives. For these reasons it was necessary for some control to be exercised over the issue of exit visas which in principle were available to nearly all Chinese who wished to travel. In controlling the rate of issue, it was not always easy or practicable for local authorities to distinguish between applicants who could obtain visas for their onward destin- ations and those who could not.

we

This

6. I said that we appreciated the problems faced by the Chinese authorities. Many of those who had been granted exit permits to travel to South-East Asian countrieg had arrived in Hong Kong and been obliged to remain there: had made high-level representations about this. We were also very concerned about the numbers actually entering Hong Kong without any proposed onward destinations. had nothing to do with fear of subversion: a large proportion of Hong Kong's population was made up from first-generation immigrants from China and a limited addition - the number of 50 per day had earlier been agreed upon - would be welcome. But the present numbers were far in excess of what the Hong Kong authorities social, economic, housing and education policies could possibly cope with. hoped that the difference was understood between our wish to see these numbers controlled and our request that sympathetic consideration be given to the relatively small number of Chinese citizens who wished to travel to the United Kingdom to join relatives and whose visa applications had been approved for two years or more. We always made sure that local authorities and China Travel Service were informed when visa applications were approved, and hoped that they would therefore be able to prioritize granting of exit permits to such people whose entry into the country of final destination was assured.

I

7. Gao appeared to accept all of this, and promised to pass on the details on the list to the relevant authorities.

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8.

I then mentioned the case of

(your letter FEC 348/2 of 13 December. Gao promised that the local authorities would be asked to consider her application speedily and sympathetically. We have not so far, however, received a visa application from

CC: I C Orr Esq

APA

Hong Kong

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K Sullivan

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