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DRINKS WITH PARLIAMENTARIANS: 17 JANUARY,
1800
Aircraft
Hong Kong
Reginal Ink
11
Fel,
Fax
}?
9
Stirred by
Seorgetanium
Lada: 800
VBB
Atmosphere generally more positive than six months ago.
Economy booming; business confidence high. Main problems (inflation; high property prices; labour shortage) reflect the pace of the boom.
Main cause for concern is emigration ("braindrain"). way to tackle this, other than by making Hong Kong an attractive place to live and work.
No
General feeling that drafting of the Basic Law is going well, with Hong Kong opinions being taken into account.
Main area of controversy is future political system. important thing here is for Hong Kong opinion to become clearer about what it actually wants.
Dominant issue in my talks was Vietnamese boat people. Strength of local opinion striking.
The
I was able to announce package of measures to help (eg £1 million for UNHCR plus HK$ 1 million for repatriation programme).
Explained terms of our offer to take for resettlement a further 1,000 Vietnamese, subject to other countries responding commensurately. Right to use our offer as a lever to secure best possible international contribution to solving this problem.
In parallel to this, explained steps we are taking to arrange early return of those who have volunteered to go back to Vietnam with assurances of good treatment.
My trip coincided with some controversy over immigration questions:
EC passports for Macao: no sensible comparison between our immigration procedures and Portugal's.
Section 4 (5) of British Nationality Act: always made clear that discretionary powers would be used very sparingly.
Wives/widows of ex-servicemen: requested details of cases which I will ensure are looked at carefully.
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