TNAG-0937-FCO40-1156-Visits-of-Sir-Murray-MacLehose--Governor-of-Hong-Kong--to-th-1980 — Page 20

CONFIDENTIAL

HKK 0263

RECAVAD DERSCZSTRY NO. 51 1 1 NOV 1980

MEETING BETWEEN MINISTER OF STATE AND THE GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG: 6 NOVEMBER 1980

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Present

Mr Peter Blaker MP

Mr R D Clift

Mr C A Munro

Sir Murray MacLehose GBE KCMG KCVO Mr DR Ford MVO OBE (Hong Kong Commissioner

in London)

1.

The Governor went through the points which he had discussed on 5 November with the Secretary of State. The following subjects were covered. The points recorded are those which were not raised with Lord Carrington.

2.

(a) Vietnamese Refugees

(b) Illegal Immigration

Sir Murray MacLehose said that the new measures had got off to a good start. There had been no resentment in Hong Kong.

The only criticisms had been that the Government should have acted sooner. If there was any trouble it would come later as the measures were implemented. It was essential that enough illegals be sent back to China for the message to get through to the communes that it was not worth attempting to enter Hong Kong. He understood that MPs at Westminster had not been very critical.

Mr Blaker agreed. He was encouraged by the relative lack of Parliamentary interest. He asked what was the present ratio of those captured to those probably getting through. Sir M MacLehose said the latest figure was 1:0.7. However, since illegals were now not allowed to register, there was no way of checking the estimate.

Mr Blaker asked about the number of illegals who had apparently failed to register during the period of grace. Sir M MacLehose said that the Immigration Department had some time ago estimated that there were only 12,000 illegals in Hong Kong. A number had registered since. The 7,000 who had come forward during the amnesty period was probably not far short of the total.

(c) Nationality White Paper

(d) Guangdong Nuclear Project

Sir M MacLehose said that we should not be too discouraged by Vice- Premier Gu Mu's statement to HMA Peking that the whole project would go to the French. The Chinese frequently made high-level and apparently firm statements of the sort; they often came to nothing.

CONFIDENTIAL

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