5.
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I also observed there were repeated remarks by Chinese officials saying the British Hong Kong Government
should take effective measures to resolve the problem. We
had sought clarification on this earlier and asked what other
actions the Chinese Government expected us to take. As Shu
himself was aware, we had been taking all effective measures
to enable the arrivals to be immediately repatriated. For
example, at Shu's recent request, we had speedily started
providing original photographs for the two extra copies of
name lists we sent over.
6.
The press also quoted NCNA Vice Director Zhang
Junsheng as saying that many ECVIIS had submitted false
information about their identities and that the real
screening work should be done in Hong Kong. I was puzzled by
this statement. We were of course trying our best to get as
much information as possible from the arrivals and be as
comprehensive and as accurate as possible with the information we provided them with.
7.
In response, Shu only reiterated the Chinese
position. He remarked he did not believe the Beihai
officials would ask the ECVIIS to leave for Hong Kong. He
said Beihai authorities were fully aware of the policy of the
Chinese Government on this issue. I pointed out we had
received this information from the arrivals themselves, but
of course were not in a position to say whether it was true
or not. Nevertheless we were very concerned about such
reports and would appreciate if Shu could draw this to the attention of the authorities and urge them to step up
measures to prevent more from leaving China.
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