growth in the Chinese mainland. The fact remains that many Hong Kong residents are in possession of, or seeking to possess, other nationality passports in case events should take a turn for the worse.
MACAU
Mention should be made of the Portuguese territory of Macau which is similarly leased and due to return to the Chinese in 1999. Much of the prosperity of this territory is due to gambling and vice. There are concerns that the Portuguese government are prepared to issue unrestricted passports to all Macau residents and this effectively affords those people access to the EC. These concerns have been recognised by the Portuguese government who have made fact finding missions to Macau during 1993. Macau Chinese are known to be investing in Lisbon and Madeira
TRIADS
Formed during the 16th Century to counter the power of the Warlords, they were largely an unsuccessful group. During the 18th and 19th Centuries their role expanded into a form of welfare co-operative. In the 20th Century they have largely been a criminal enterprise. Membership of a Triad organisation in Hong Kong is illegal, with an estimated 80,000 members there. Recruitment takes place often at secondary school age and is open to both male and female. It is suggested that membership is not restricted to the Chinese race. There are oaths of secrecy although these are often broken during police interview.
TRIAD STRUCTURE
The leaders of Triads are known as Dragon Heads, the second tier are known as Office Bearers and are considered significant persons. The basic level is a soldier and below them are unsworn street fighters who carry out the day to day criminal activities of enforcement and violence. Dragon Heads are invariably people of considerable wealth and status and may be summed up by the Chinese statement 'Become Rich - Become Good'. The office bearers, being senior triad members, are viewed as very important people and the Chinese saying 'Anyone who is anyone associates with an office bearer' illustrates their importance. The Soldier will engage in day to day criminal activity and will pay a percentage of his criminal profits to the office bearer, The unsworn street fighter will be constantly seeking to do favours with a view to gaining membership of the Triad.
It is important to note that whilst there are numerous Triads with their respective heads, nothing precludes members of different Triads joining together for the purposes of crime and this regularly occurs. It is only when there is dissension between groups e.g. turf wars that there is disharmony and Triad in-fighting.
There are Triads in the United Kingdom and these stem from the Hong Kong Triads. However there are no grounds to believe that there are any direct links e.g. flow of cash, from the UK to Hong Kong, and the UK Triads exist as separate entities,
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