TNAG-2604-FCO40-3792-Detention-of-Hong-Kong-residents-in-China-1992 — Page 59

X

30 March 1992

J S Wall Esq

CONFIDENTIAL

SECRET

HKD OISTI 015/1

Sent to FED. Miss Logan.

31/31

22

10 Downing Street

REC

See 23

P 99

IN.

2131

CALL BY MR STEPHEN NG AND MR LAU SHAN-CHING

1. We consulted Hong Kong about the letter dated 8 March

from Susan Whitfield, Chairwoman of the 'June 4 China

Support Group'. Hong Kong tell us that the claim that several Consuls-General met in 1989 and agreed a quota of Chinese refugees whom their country would accept is incorrect. What actually happened is that Hong Kong held

several meetings with those Consuls-General whom they

thought would be most disposed to help with the flow of

Chinese asylum seekers. No quota was asked of or agreed

by any country. But a list of those refugees that had

been allowed to remain in Hong Kong and who wished to

move on, or whom the authorities thought it would be

dangerous politically to have remain, was circulated.

Several countries subsequently accepted some of the refugees. At the moment there is only one refugee left waiting to be settled.

2.

In the case of Ms Tang Ri-mei, we have been told that she does not have a valid case for political asylum. Following a civil dispute with her employers, she and her

companion Yang Zhenguo fled to Hong Kong in

December 1991 where they applied for political asylum. As the case was complicated by difficulties, potentially