Two earlier episodes support this conclusion. The largest
influx of ECVII's into Hong Kong was from June to September
1987, with the arrival of over 7,400. With the cooperation of
the Chinese authorities, all of these were returned to
Guangdong and Guangxi before the end of the year. There was a
further influx in October 1988 with around 760 arrivals.
Again with the assistance of the Chinese authorities, these
were returned with minimum delay. In both cases, the early
return to China of the new arrivals proved an effective
deterrent to others who might have been contemplating coming
to Hong Kong. Immediately after the returns, the numbers of
arrivals fell sharply.
The number of recent arrivals is not yet on the same scale as
the surges experienced in 1987 and 1988. But if decisive action is not taken now, a crisis of similar proportions may well develop. In the past, you have urged us to clear the camps in Hong Kong as quickly as possible, and not to allow Hong Kong to become a pole of attraction for Vietnamese migrants. China has criticised Vietnam for not accepting its
own migrants back. We now have a situation in which the camp population in Hong Kong is expanding because of the recent
influx of migrants coming from China.
We urge the Chinese authorities to agree urgently to accept
the new arrivals back to China, together with any further
ECVII's in similar circumstances who arrive in the near
future. Specifically, we would like to propose a new arrangement for handling these cases, whereby the Hong Kong
Government would give you lists of new arrivals whom we propose to return, with details of each. You could then do what you need to verify these, on the understanding that after a period of two weeks all individuals to whom you have not raised specific objections will be returned.
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