(d) against the background of illegal immigration from China,
the Hong Kong Government would find it impossible publicly to defend a policy which left Vietnamese migrants (who
have no connections, friends or relatives in Hong Kong) at liberty and allowed to take up employment whilst illegal immigrants from China once caught are immediately repatriated. Such a disparity of treatment between the Vietnamese and Chinese, both of whom have entered Hong Kong illegally, would be unacceptable to the local community. There is therefore likely to be yet stronger domestic pressure for the Hong Kong Government to abolish its first asylum policy.
30. Whilst it is true that there is a labour shortage in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Government considers it appropriate to resolve this problem in a manner which does not compromise the integrity of effective immigration control and the interests of the local
labour force. To allow illegal immigrants to take up local employment would only encourage more to enter Hong Kong illegally rather than through legal means. The Hong Kong Government has therefore implemented a general labour importation scheme under which only a restricted number of skilled workers, who are sponsored by their employers in certain sectors with serous labour shortage, are allowed to enter the territory.
COMMENTS ON THE THREE CASES OF ALLEGED ARBITRARY DETENTION
31. In all three cases, detention was in accordance with the laws
of Hong Kong.
(1)
The case of Pham Ngọc Lam (VRD 344/12/89)
32. The case of PHAM NGOC LAM is very typical.
He arrived on
5 June 1989 at the height of the second wave of migration in
1988-91. Over this period, thousands travelled by train and bus
across China and then bought unseaworthy boats to make the short sea crossing into Hong Kong. They were told explicitly on
Arb.Det
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