TNAG-0907-FCO40-1117-Immigration-from-China-to-Hong-Kong-1979 — Page 48

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WE Quantrill Esq

CONFIDENTIAL

Hong Kong & General Department F C

lea

Bill,

950A

HKK 30DKERNMENT SECRETARIAT

QWER ALBERT ROAD

HONG KONG

3 December, 1979

Efter and to Nor Clift, with ref.

With a quarter of a million people enters Hong Kong in the past year and a hoff, one would expect the Hom Kony population to begin to have doubts about letting them come. The intesting thing is that those don'ts are still pretty hestant.

W.E. Antill FCO DISCUSSION WITH UNOFFICIALS ON IMMIGRATION FROM CHINA 10/12

Thank you for sending a copy of the record of the meeting on 15 November with Oswald Cheung and Li Fook-wo to the Acting Governor.

2.

There is one point in the record which is worth picking up. Oswald Cheung is quoted as saying that, because of close ties with China, there is no real will here to restrict immigration, and Li Fook-wo as saying that he thought an annual arrival rate of about 50,000 legal immigrants would be acceptable.

3.

As you will know from your visits here, feelings amongst local Chinese on the immigration problem are mixed and often contradictory. As an admitted over-simplification one could say that all would like to see their own relatives allowed in but the relatives of other people excluded. Even the first part of this dichotomy is now wearing thin under the pressure of numbers. We have had a number of reports of people making sure that their relatives in China do not know their true addresses in Hong Kong for fear of newcomers arriving on the doorstep.

4.

Overall, I think it is fair to say that there is growing alarm amongst the public about the number of immigrants, both legal and illegal. This view is also strongly represented amongst Unofficial Members of the Executive and Legislative Councils. I doubt very much whether most members of Executive Council, for instance, would agree with Li Fook-wo about 50,000 legal immigrants a year being an acceptable figure. The nearest they would get to this view, I suspect, is to accept, with great reluctance, that 50,000 a year for legals and illegal evaders combined would be tolerable.

The way

things are going this year it will be well over three times that number.

ex

cc RJ T McLaren Esq

(D C Wilson)

land?

Far Eastern Department CONFIDENTIAL