CONFIDENTIAL
illegal immigrants without raising difficulties.
2.
Between 1968 and 1974 no attempt was made to return
illegal immigrants: the flow for much of this time was
low, the last attempt to return illegal immigrants in
1968 had been rejected by the Chinese authorities and
China was undergoing considerable internal disturbance.
But illegal immigration increased unacceptably in the
early 1970s. Immigration, both legal and illegal, from
China in 1971, 1972 and 1973 amounted to 3,000, 20,000
and 56,000 respectively. After negotiations with the
Chinese authorities, the policy of repatriation of
illegal immigrants was reinstated on 30 November 1974.
As before, those detected after reaching the urban area
of Hong Kong were allowed to remain. This "touch base"
policy was not openly admitted to.
T..
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3. After consultation with the Chinese authorities, the
"touch base" policy, under which those illegal immigrants
who evaded capture and established contact with family or
friends and obtained proper accommodation were allowed to
stay and register for an Identification Card, was ended
on 23 October 1980. Despite not a little public sympathy
for illegal immigrants, there appeared to be a large
measure of agreement that Hong Kong's standard of living
and social and political stability could not be main-
tained if current rates of illegal immigration were
allowed to continue (it was estimated that 110,000
illegal immigrants "touched base" in 1979 and that the
annual rate of population growth [excluding Vietnamese
CONFIDENTIAL
Printed in the UK for HMSO D₫ 8422057 2/84 (28592)
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