§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the 235W arrangements between the Governments of Hong Kong and China regarding the question of illegal immigration to Hong Kong.
§ Mr. LuardWould-be illegal immigrants detained while trying to enter Hong Kong are returned to China unless there are exceptional reasons for allowing them to remain in the territory.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many illegal immigrants to Hong Kong have been repatriated to China in each of the past five years.
§ Mr. LuardRepatriation was reintroduced on 30th November 1974, since when the numbers repatriated have been:
1974 223 1975 1,133 1976 810 1977 1,779 1978 (To 31st October) 5,045
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the agreement between the Hong Kong and Chinese Governments on legal immigration to Hong Kong on an annual basis.
§ Mr. LuardThere is no agreement on the anual number of immigrants from China. However, the Chinese authorities are aware of our concern at the present level of immigration.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many legal immigrants have entered Hong Kong from China in each of the past five years.
§ Mr. LuardThe number of legal immigrants entering Hong Kong from China in each year since 1973 is:
1973 … … 55,659 1974 … … 32,918 1975 … … 25,641 1976 … … 20,453 1977 … … 26,449 1978 (to 31st October) … … 50,249
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the estimated number of illegal immigrants to enter Hong Kong from China in each of the past five years to the latest available date.
236W
§ Mr. LuardIt is impossible to give precise or even estimated figures for the annual number of illegal immigrants into Hong Kong from China. A very rough estimate is that since the beginning of 1974 there have been about 52,000.