PA Subversion.
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
51
HKB OGI /
2 August 1991
Dr Stephen Ng
Chairman
Alliance of Hong Kong Chinese
in the United States
PO Box 3768
Santa Clara
California
USA
95055-3768
London SWIA 2AH
From The Minister of State
Dear Dr Mg
Thank you for your letter of 16 July to the Prime Minister. I have been asked to reply.
You raise the issue of the conference of the Chinese Student Federations which was to be held in Hong Kong from 16-19 July, and ask about the students who were refused entry to Hong Kong to attend. I regret that I am unable to comment on the details of the individual cases you mention. And of course it is up to the Hong Kong Government to decide who to allow to enter Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong as in many other countries, the possession of a visa does not guarantee that a visitor will be admitted into Hong Kong. Under Section II (i) of the Immigration Ordinance, an Immigration Officer may refuse a visitor leave to enter Hong Kong, even if he holds a visa.
The Hong Kong Government have advised us that it is their general policy not to allow Hong Kong to be used by outsiders for their own political purposes and that the refusal of entry to Hong Kong of the students is consistent with that policy. This in no way affects the rights of Hong Kong residents to freedom of speech within the law.
You suggest that "reservations" made in the Hong Kong Bill of Rights have eliminated the freedom of assembly and association. This is not the case: these rights apply fully to persons in Hong Kong. Neither the Bill of Rights nor the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the Bill of Rights is designed to implement further in Hong Kong, however, confers a right of entry into Hong Kong on persons having no connection with Hong Kong.
/I agree
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