CONFIDENTIAL
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wish to remain, and thereby ease the eventual transition to control over the entire territory
9. The third aspect of the preventative policy on illegal emigration was the system of punishments. These were scaled to be lenient to individual offenders but severe for organizers. Mr Fu believed that escapees working alone outside an organization stood relatively little chance of making a successful escape. He was unable to give precise details of sentences awarded for different offences, and admitted the se
varied from commune to commune. When I pointed out that fines appeared to be an unrealistic deterrent in many cases, since it increased the pressure on further members of a family, or unsuccessful escapees themselves to try again in order to raise the money in Hong Kong to cover the fines. Mr Fu merely said that fines were not the only form of punishment. I also passed on reports from Immigration Department to the effect that (a) returned illegals and (b) people who had been returned at Shenzhen after unsuccessfully attempting to enter Hong Kong Jegally on passports had been caught attempting to enter Hong Kong illegally on a second occasion shortly after the first. This suggested that they were not removed from the border area to their commune of origin from whence it would be more difficult to escape. Mr Fu said he would be interested to see details of such cases
10. The final measure was physical control of movement, and large reinforcements had been brought in over the past year. The difficulty was that as soon as efforts were made to tighten This up security in one area, activity would shift to another. was further evidence of organization on the part of the escapers, who were able to respond very quickly to measures taken by the security forces. Mr Fu hoped that the Hong Kong authorities understood that the Chinese side were doing what they could to contain the flow, but the problems were greater than we perhaps imagined. I said that the Chinese efforts had been clearly shown to be effective at certain times, and if it appeared that we were constantly complaining about the situation this was a sign of the seriousness with which it was viewed rather than a reflection of dissatisfaction with the Chinese measures, which were appreciated.
11. We discussed the question of the return to China of refugees originally from Vietnam, as reported in my letter of 15 Apr 1 to Dr Wilson.
12. Mr Fu commented that some refugees from Vietnam as well as large numbers of local Chinese were now collecting visas for the USA from the consulate in Guangzhou. It was also now easier and quicker for official visas for visits to the USA and Japan to be obtained than visas for Hong Kong: were we not thinking of opening up a consulate? I said that although we had no plans at present to open a consulate, the problem of visas for officials
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