HONG KONG: BRITISH NAVY PICKS UP ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM REPUBLIC OF CHINA TRYING TO SETTLE IN HONG KONG.

Record ID: 348836

  • Title: HONG KONG: BRITISH NAVY PICKS UP ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM REPUBLIC OF CHINA TRYING TO SETTLE IN HONG KONG.
  • Date: 1st November 1979
  • Summary: 1. AERIAL VIEW Illegal Chinese immigrants in Sampan off Hong Kong 0.13 2. AERIAL VIEW Royal Navy mine sweeper (No. P.1096) at sea 0.28 3. TV Navy speedboat putting out from mine sweeper 0.32 4. AERIAL VIEW Mine sweeper, with other illegal immigrants already taken aboard and seated on deck, approaching sampan 5. AERIAL VIEW Immigrants tak
  • Embargoed: 16th November 1979 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BORDER AREA AND MIRS BAY, NEW TERRITORIES, HONG KONG
  • Country: Hong Kong
  • Reuters ID: LVA4SFZ1POK6AQPVB41KYZ53J6PE
  • Story Text: China appears unable or unwilling to control a huge exodus of illegal immigrants to Hong Kong, according to the British colony's Security Chief Lewis Davies. He was speaking on Thursday (1 November) as figures were released which showed that October was the third worst month this year for illegal Chinese immigration. Almost eleven and a half thousands mainland chinese were rounded up by the Colony's security forces last month and sent back to China.

    SYNOPSIS: The Chinese from the mainland come down the coast every day in makeshift boats put together with bits of straw and rope. many of the vessels don't survive the journey. But if they do there is a good chance the people on board will be among the more than three hundred picked up by the Royal Navy every day. The land border with China is heavily policed so most of the potential illegal immigrants have taken to the sea.

    More than a quarter of a million illegal and legal immigrants are believed to have reached Hong Kong in the last eighteen months, placing an enormous strain on already overburdened housing, medical and social facilities.

    Mr. Davies said the arrival of the mainland Chinese implied they were able now to set out from their villages without substantial efforts being made to prevent them coming to the already overcrowded island.

    About forty Royal Marnies are stationed at the Castle Peak observation post to watch the border with China. According to a Hong Kong government spokesman Peking has been asked to stop the exodus of the illegal immigrants. And Prime Minister margaret Thatcher is expected to raise the issue with visiting Chinese Chairman Hua Guofeng during his visit to Britain. According to a report in the London based Daily Telegraph. Mrs. Thatcher is appalled by the latest Hong Kong illegal immigrant statistics.

    All captured illegal immigrants were repatriated but Hong Kong officials are looking for strong controls and greater penalties on the other side of the border. Besides the illegal immigrants, another sixty thousand legal immigrants from China arrived this year on short???term permits and virtually all have stayed on. The total number of immigrants this year is more than three times the increase allowed for, in Hong Kong government planning. Officials are worried that if numbers continue to increase at this rate it will destroy the infrastructure of Hong Kong -- housing, education and every type of welfare.

    The latest group of illegal immigrants are taken across the border at Man Kam Bridge. But according to recent reports many will try again to leave China and make a new life in Hong Kong.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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