Families split as Hong Kong deports children
By Tyler Marshall
Hong Kong
April 4 2002
A mainland Chinese right-of-abode seeker hides her face as she queues for
legal aid forms outside the Legistlative Council building in Hong Kong.
Picture: AFP
As the elderly woman told her tale, tears rolled down her cheeks and on to
her silk blouse.
Tse Kamying, 72, explained how her only son had left for mainland China
under a deportation order two days earlier, leaving her afraid that she
will die at home and no one will know.
"I have no one now," she stammered. "I don't know how the government can be
so cruel."
Mrs Tse's story is among the many personal tragedies in one of Asia's most
heartwrenching immigration battles the fight of thousands of children born
in mainland China to live together with their parents and siblings who are
legal residents of Hong Kong.
The plight of an 18-year-old student, Kao Laisha, being pulled away from
her mother, father and three sisters is one of several cases that have
drawn local media attention in recent days. As in the other instances, Kao
and Mrs Tse's son were ordered to leave Hong Kong because of a January 10
court ruling upholding the principle that those born in mainland China
before their parents became residents of the territory have no right to
residency.
As a special administrative region of China since 1997, Hong Kong is
especially attractive because residents enjoy many of the basic rights of a
democratic society plus a far more affluent lifestyle than the one
available in the communistruled mainland.
Under pressure to restrict immigration, the Hong Kong Government has
offered no leeway now that the time has come to enforce the January 10
decision.
The judgment means that about 5000 sons and daughters of Hong Kong
residents must go back to the mainland. More than 2000 other people
believed to be affected by the ruling must also leave.
The government has pledged to act firmly to expel rejected applicants for
residency known as "abode seekers" who have ignored the official March 31
deadline for departure.
"The government will take restrained but firm action to remove claimants in
batches in an orderly fashion," Hong Kong's Deputy Secretary for Security,
Michail Wong, said.
However, no one in the first two batches of about 80 individuals called for
deportation on Monday and Tuesday by the region's Department of Immigration
showed up.
On Tuesday, one of the organisers of the fight against the deportation
order, Roman Catholic priest Frano Mella, advised those named in the first
batches to remain indoors at home.
Those refusing to leave face fines and possible jail terms once they are
finally deported, according to reports from the mainland.
Despite a series of legal setbacks in a battle that has gone on for nearly
five years, Father Mella believes that time and justice are on his side.
"It's a basic and sacred human right for families to be allowed to live
together," he said.
On Tuesday, the priest led a march to Hong Kong's highest court and also
requested a meeting with officials at the Security Bureau to explore
possible concessions.
Yesterday lawyers launched fresh legal action to stave off the deportations.
Hong Kong Government officials claim they are not anti-family but are
simply bound by legal rulings. Spokesman Stephen Lam noted that the
government permitted controlled immigration of more than 54,000 people into
Hong Kong from the mainland each year.
- agencies
March 11 2002
AP
In 1949, Mao Tse-tung's communists conquered mainland China and set off a
massive flow of emigration to this city, then a comparatively prosperous
British colony.
To sort out newcomers from residents, Hong Kong introduced compulsory
cardboard identity cards.
Now, Hong Kongers are about to be issued a new ID card.
This time, they're getting so-called "smart" cards, with embedded computer
chips that hold names, pictures and birthdates � as well as a digital
template of both thumbprints.
Then as now, the mandatory cards are largely aimed at controlling Chinese
immigration. Although Hong Kong is now a part of China under separate
governance, border control remains tight.
"We've long had illegal immigration problems and everyone got used to
carrying the identity card," said Eric Wong, Hong Kong's deputy director of
immigration. "People just think it's a way of life."
Despite the worries of civil libertarians, smart ID cards - some with
biometric data, like thumbprints - are gaining momentum elsewhere in Asia
and western Europe.
Although Hong Kong's government backed down on proposals to have the cards
carry health and bank records, civil libertarians like lawmaker Sin
Chung-kai, who represents Hong Kong's technology sector, still have
reservations.
"No matter how secure a system is, there is always a risk that it might get
hacked into," Sin said.
Plastic smart cards, about the size of credit cards, contain embedded
microchips loaded with data. Around the world, they are often used in
public telephones and for electronic cash payments.
In the Hong Kong ID card, personal details such as name, birthdate, gender,
residential status and conditions of stay for non-citizens are stored in
the microchip and protected by encryption.
A subject of considerable debate in the United States after the Sept. 11
attacks, such cards are now optional in several countries that have either
introduced them or plan to - including Finland, Malaysia and Japan.
Besides using them as simple IDs, Hong Kongers will use their cards to
bypass the notoriously long waits when leaving or entering Hong Kong.
Smart card holders will speed through Hong Kong immigration, using
self-service kiosks that match digital biometric data on the card against
the cardholder's fingerprint image read by a scanner.
"People will simply insert the card, press their thumb against a detector
and the system will match the data," Wong said.
Still, many Hong Kongers were alarmed when the government floated the idea
of a high-tech card larded with personal information.
With local smart card hackers already showing their prowess, they feared
the IDs presented too tempting a target. In Hong Kong and China as
elsewhere, black marketeers sell pirated cable television decoders that use
bootleg smart cards to decrypt pay TV channels.
To address public fears, Hong Kong's government opted against requiring the
cards to serve as driving licenses and library cards.
With those and other applications optional, the government hopes its
scaled-back proposal can be approved by lawmakers and launched next year.
The digital fingerprint characteristics will be stored on the card only -
not in a government database - so even if a hacker penetrated the system,
there would be no fingerprint data to steal.
If the card is stolen, officials say the data on the chip can't be easily
retrieved.
Officials estimate the seven-year plan to distribute the mandatory cards to
all Hong Kong residents, aged 11 and up, will cost $400 million.
The expense includes computer database, networks, card readers, technical
support and additional staff. An initial $21 million contract was awarded
last month to a consortium led by local telecoms company Pacific Century
CyberWorks and including Mondex International of Britain.
Other governments launching smart ID cards have opted for less strict programs.
In September, Malaysia introduced an optional smart card called MyKad that
functions as a driver's license and contains passport information. It may
someday contain banking data and biometric data.
Japan plans next year to introduce an optional smart ID containing the
cardholder's signature, photo and address.
Thailand recently approved a proposal for mandatory cards containing social
security and health records. Finland has implemented an optional smart ID
card.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/03/11/1015365760978.html
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The market would come back when it understood the company was operating in
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http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/22/1042911436278.html
