JUFIDENTIAL
3.
8.
If we follow this course we would have to insist on a clear understanding with the Chinese about the limited nature of the functions of the Visa Office and of its privileges and immunities. This would have to be agreed in advance on the lines of the attached draft memorandum. You may remember that it was agreed by Ke Hua, when he raised this issue with Teddy Youde and the Governor, that it should be recorded in writing what the functions of the Visa Office would and would not be, and that NCNA will continue to be the channel of communications. The point about the role of the NCNA could be dealt with, if necessary, in a separate exchange and the footnotes would be part of an oral understanding rather than the main memorandum. One important point is that the Visa Office should not issue passports to Hong Kong residents. The implications of them doing so are, I think, obvious. In any case the Chinese have said that the function will be restricted to the issue of visas. We could, if necessary, agree to the office renewing existing passports for those not resident in Hong Kong, but I think we should if possible stick to restriction to visa issuing. Without clear-cut agreement with the Chinese on the memorandum we would not introduce the legislation..
9.
A major disadvantage of legislating as suggested above is that we would in effect be conceding the Chinese demands without any equivalent concession on their side. This is something we would normally wish to avoid. We have tried to think up a suitable quid pro quo. But nothing really satisfactory is available. We did not wish to tie this to the treatment of Chinese passport holders in transit, since that seemed likely to become an emotive issue in its own right and it seems better to deal with it without a prolonged haggle.
10.
The only alternative we can think of is to tie agreement on the Visa Office to agreement on the general question of immigration from China to Hong Kong.
As you know, the present daily average of 150 "legal" arrivals includes a large number who are given permits by the Chinese which are technically to visit relatives for a limited period of time, after which they should return to China. Only just over 4% actually return. Recently about half of those arriving are given "single journey" passes which entitle them to settle in Hong Kong. This is new and something we have already queried with the Chinese without getting a response. Whatever the response or future policy on this, we will at some time have to deal with the problem of "visitors" who never return in order to get total numbers down to a more tolerable level. At some stage we will need an agreement with the Chinese by which visitors are given permits for a limited period of time (say up to one month) after which they will not be given I.D. cards and will be returned to China if found. Part of this agreement would have to be that the number of "single journey" permits would be limited to a maximum of 50-75 a day.
/contd.
CONFIDENTIAL
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