TNAG-2065-FCO40-2943-Vietnamese-boat-people-and-China-1990 — Page 76

CONFIDENTIAL

機密

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Visit of "Group Tours Delegation to Guangxi & Zhanjiang

Vietnamese Aspects

The delegation which consisted of myself, Carrie Yau of Security Branch, KC Cheuk and K Y Mak of Immigration Department and Mrs Lily King, visited Zhanjiang, Beihai and

Fang Cheng. We were not able to visit Dongxing on the

Sino-Vietnamese Border. We were given briefings by the Deputy Mayor of Zhanjiang, the Deputy Mayor of Beihai and the Mayor of

Fang Cheng County, the Deputy Director of Guangxi Foreign Affairs Office, the Directors of Vietnamese resettlement farms

in Fang Cheng and Beihai and at a Marine Police station in Zhanjiang.

2.

For

The aims of the briefing were to show us that the Chinese had made major efforts both in settling refugees and in

stopping boat people reaching Hong Kong; that they were doing

all that was possible to implement their policy of treating new arrivals as illegal immigrants but that the root of the problem lay in the attraction of Hong Kong's first asylum policy. Further questioning, however, revealed that on the ground the

position was not as rosy as their briefings would suggest. its part the delegation restricted itself to pointing out the tremendous burden that Hong Kong was under, calling for increased cooperation and seeking such information as

possible. We did not criticise the Chinese whenever follow-up

questions demonstrated that they were not implementing their policy, in order to ensure that we were given as true a picture

as possible.

3.

obtained:

Detailed information on the following points was

CONFIDENTIAI