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Mainland Chinese flee to Hong Kong before handover
Children are chief among the illegal immigrants
May 14, 1997
Web posted at: 11:56 a.m. EDT (1556 GMT)HONG KONG (CNN) -- As Hong Kong's transfer from Britain to China fast approaches, the city is seeing an influx of illegal immigrants who have become frustrated by the delays and corruption in the process of arranging proper permission to leave China.
Many of the illegal immigrants are children, a trend fueled by rumors that mainland Chinese children who make it to Hong Kong before the July 1 handover will be given amnesty and allowed to stay.
Hong Kong's outgoing and future governments have formed a joint task force to explore ways to stop the flow.
"We will look into the range of problems of the lawful and unlawful migration of mainland people," security secretary Peter Lai told the South China Morning Post. "We will, of course give top priority to the problem of migrant children. It has become very serious."
Both China and Hong Kong deny any plans to grant amnesty to children, but the rumors persist and increasing numbers of children -- many with Hong Kong fathers and mainland Chinese mothers -- are smuggled into the territory and hidden from authorities.
A dangerous journey
Eight-year-old Man Yin and her 10-year-old brother Man Mang, for example, are prisoners in their own home. Unlike their Hong Kong-born younger brother and sister, they don't go to school and rarely venture outside.
"We had no choice," said their father Lam Yihong, a mainlander who moved to Hong Kong legally in the 1980s. "I tried to get official permission for my kids to leave China and join me. But I couldn't. The system is too corrupt. So I had to sneak them in."
So far this year, the Hong Kong authorities have intercepted nearly a thousand mainland children trying to slip into the territory -- more than the total for all of 1996. Most of them, including Man Yin and Man Mang, make the journey on small boats operated by smugglers known as snakeheads.
"I was terrified on the trip here," Man Mang said. "I was constantly seasick. I thought our tiny boat would sink."
Too many, too fast
Hong Kong allows 150 mainland people -- 66 of them children -- to join their families each day. And the post-colonial constitution grants the right of abode to any Chinese child if one of his parents is a Hong Kong resident on July 1.
Hong Kong is too crowded, however, to cope with a large increase in population -- as many as 100,000 mainland children are already there -- and social workers estimate there could be as many as 130,000 more eligible to be reunited with their families.
To underscore that point, immigration officials recently deported a 9-year-old mainland girl and her mother who were living in the territory illegally. It was a harsh warning to other potential illegal immigrants, and the move received widespread support.
Hong Kong residents, said Ho Hei Wah of the Society for Community Organization, see the immigrants as a burden, adding to problems with housing and education.
Correspondent Mike Chinoy and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Hong Kong stages annual Bun Festival - May 10, 1997
- China warns that political protests may not be allowed in Hong Kong - October 23, 1996
- Governor defends Hong Kong democracy in final speech - October 2, 1996
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