ཡཾ ༈-༥"༔ ཡ་་ ྃ**
SECRET
Page No. 9 of 10 pages
32.
The flow of those settled in China from areas in the Pearl River
delta around Guangzhou and from Guangxi continues, despite Macau's announcement
that its refugee camps are full to their 5,000 limit and it can accept no more.
Macau has disposed of the surplus by putting them onto boats in mixed groups
and towing them, or directing them, towards Hong Kong. In doing so, it has
also attempted to offload a number of suspected troublemakers (one of whom had
been resident in Macau since mid-1978). All the former settlers appear to be
motivated by a dislike of their life on farms in China and what they see
as the hostility of the indigenous people. Their hope is for resettlement in
the West provided they can gain entry to Macau or Hong Kong. Included in the
flow, posing as Vietnamese refugees, have beeh small numbers of Indonesian
Chinese and local Chinese. There have also been some trying this means of
entry for a second time, having made a previous trip to Hong Kong, been
detected and returned to China.
33.
The Chinese authorities are being pressed hard through all possible
channels to accept the return of these former settlers. They have agreed in
principle to do so but they claim that it is a slow and difficult process to
identify the individuals and their areas of settlement. However they have now
indicated that arrangements are being made to accept the return starting
from mid-August. Meanwhile the number in this category detained in Hong Kong
has risen to 5,822 posing a serious problem of control and a threat of disorder
many of those detained have been in closed camps for over 9 months. There was some
unrest in Chi Ma Wan Camp during the month, which was brought under control only
by timely action and the removal of the ringleaders and single men to places
of detention.
LIC HONG KONG
AUGUST 1980
SECRET
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