TNAG-0906-FCO40-1116-Immigration-from-China-to-Hong-Kong-1979 — Page 64

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ANFIDENTAL

208

CONFIDENTIAL

F1 PEKING 227848Z OCT 79

TO PRIORITY FCO

TELEGRAM HUMBER 936 CF 22 OCTOBER 79

INFO PRIORITY HONG KONG

205

207

MY TELNO 925 AND 4K TELNO 1464 TO YOU:

HKK 341

RECEIVZO IN ANOSIKY NO. 51 230C1979

DESK OFFICER

INDEX

PA

Mo the 23/x AW23/x

PEGISTRY Action Taken

IMMIGRATION FROM CHINA

.

1. I HAD NOT INTENDED TO SUGGEST IN MY TUR THAT THE RETURN

FO PASSPORT HOLDERS WOULD IN ITSELF BRING NUMBERS DOWN CLOSE TO 190 A DAY. (THE WORD 'MOREOVER'' WAS UNFORTUNATELY OMMITTED FROM THE FIRST SENTENCE OF PARA 2 IN TRANSMISSION) NUMBERS IN THIS GROUP HAVE, HOWEVER, BEEN MORE SIGNIFICANT RECENTLY THAN IS SUGGESTED IN HK TUR. 801 OF THE 1430 ENTERING HONG

KONG THIS YEAR DID SO IN AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER, A RATE OF 13 PER DAY. IF THESE HAD BEEN RETURNED, THE DAILY AVERAGE FOR THOSE MONTHS WOULD HAVE BEEN BROUGHT DOWN TO 161 AND 152 RESPECTIVELY.

2. NUMBERS HAVE DROPPED FURTHER TO 153 PER DAY (INCLUDING PASSPORT HOLDERS) IN THE FIRST TWO WEEKS OF OCTOBER, IF WE CAN HOPE THAT REPRESENTATIONS TO HUA LEAD TO SOME IMPROVEMENT (PARA 1 OF MY TUR) SAY A 25% REDUCTION IN NUMBERS THIS COUPLED WITH THE RETURN OF PASSPORT HOLDERS WITHOUT ONWARD VISAS

SHOULD BRING NUMBERS DOWN CLOSE TO 100 PER DAY.

CRADOCK

FILES

HK GO

NVD POSD

Mi Coarse NL HULAAY

COPIES TO:

Hong Kong GovT OPPICE

CONFIDENTIAL