(LEMON)
From The Minister of State
The Rt Hon The Lord Goronwy-Roberts
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
31 January 1979
超
Dear kague,
HKK
341/1
SPEE
For it as
No
John Tomlinson has passed to me your letter of
17 January enclosing one from your constituent, Miss R Kay, of 14 Townfield Gardens, Altrincham, concerning the Hong Kong Government's policy on the repatriation of illegal immigrants from China.
It may help if I begin by explaining the background to the present policy which dates from 1974. During the previous year the Hong Kong Government, faced with a sharp increase in the rate at which people were arriving from China, decided that something had to be done to limit the numbers. An informal understanding was reached with the Chinese authorities who agreed to restrict the number of immigrants crossing the border Legally from China (Hong Kong has traditionally permitted all those who are given exit permits by the Chinese authorities to stay in Hong Kong, if they wish to do so). At the same time, the Hong Kong Government decided to reintroduce the policy, suspended during the Cultural Revolution, of returning to China any would-be immigrant caught trying to enter Hong Kong illegally. These two measures together reduced the flow of immigrants to manageable proportions; failure to take action could have threatened the maintenance and improvement of social services to the population as a whole.
The Hong Kong Government have always tried to apply the policy of repatriating illegal immigrants as humanely as possible. All cases are considered individually. Where there are special humanitarian or other reasons for allowing a part- icular person to stay, the repatriation policy is not enforced.
Fergus Montgomery Esq MP
House of Commons
London SW1
/I can
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