TNAG-1590-FCO40-2175-Appointment-of-Sir-David-Wilson-as-new-Governor-of-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 176

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Q.

A.

And the reply to that was?

H.E.: There wasn't one. I am sorry, that is not quite true, the reply was that it was thought to be something that would improve and-Chines

relations.

Q.

A.

Back to immigration, was there any reason given for the increase in the

number of legal immigrants to Hong Kong?

H.E.: The general reason was said to be the disparity in the standard

of living which tended to draw people from neighbouring provinces where

there was a lot of under-employment. The other reason given was that

the measures taken to reduce the traffic had not been as effective as

they should have been.

How do these statements compare with the general understanding of

manufacturers within China, which is that it is simply much easier to

obtain permission to leave?

A.

Q.

A.

!

H.E.:

I think the greater ease of obtaining permission to leave results

from the general and promulgated policy of greater freedom of movement

in China. You will note that this has had many unexpected results not

only with regard to immigration into Hong Kong. But in other rospects

too.

Sir, any time that the question of migration came up, were the imporatives

of Sino-American relations mentioned in this context? The reason I ask

this is when Senator Jackson saw Deng Xiaoping in the United States .....

H.E.: No, it wasn't. It wasn't ever mentioned. The extent to which this

has anything to do with the liberalisation of movement, particularly with regard to greater freedom to depart, I don't know. I think it probably does have something. On the other hand, I think it was you Patricia (Penn),

who asked did the Chinese mean that. I will give you an example where

something has been done. The numbers shot up at one point in time and we

discovered that this was due to a lot of passports being issued to people

to go to the Philippines and undoubtedly the people issuing these passports believed that these people were going to the Philippines. The numbers were very high, something like 100 s ÖDNEY

We pointed this out and this was