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CONFIDENTIAL
HKK 3460/2
NO. 51
RET
See 19
BRITISH EMBASSY
PEKING
16
Action Tao?
INTAM
3 November 1978
I C Orr Esq
No
Assistant Political Adviser
HONG KONG
HONG KONG VISA POLICY:
EAST EUROPEAN NATIONALS
1. I attach copies of correspondence between Steve Martin and Paul Sleigholme concerning a visa. application
a Polish national. We have informed that her application has been refused.
by a
2.
I have always understood that the restrictive policy towards Soviet and Eastern European visa applicants has been carried out solely to prevent Hong Kong being used for subversive activities against the PRC (see para 5 of Alan Donald's letter SCR 10764 V of 13 September 1977 to Simons). It is not immediately clear how
an
exiled Pole, married to a West German and resident in the PRC, could be regarded as a potential threat in this sense. Perhaps there were special circumstances in this case, but it is otherwise a surprising decision in view of the reported granting of visas to some dozens of wives of Polish sailors, presumably normally resident in Poland, reported without adverse comment in Wen Wei Po.. A rule applied too strictly can only increase criticism of Hong Kong (and Embassies who carry out her visa policy) without comparable gains in security.
3. In this context we have also seen a copy of a letter from Parsons in Budapest entitled "Relations between long Kong and Hungary". It is certainly true that in Chinese eyes the Soviet Union and her satellites are not one and the same thing. Peking is no doubt aware that Soviet subversion in Hong Kong might take place under a flag of convenience. Whilst they approve of your restricting this without bringing any odium upon themselves, they may well be prepared to see an increase in trade-oriented Eastern European commercial activity in Hong Kong, from which they
/should
CONFIDENTIAL
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