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Friday, August 13, 1999

Canadian laws lure illegal Chinese immigrants: envoy
A 'success' for migrants: Diplomats say China makes effort to deter human smuggling

Adrienne Tanner
National Post

A Chinese diplomat says Canada's immigration laws are partly to blame for tempting illegal immigrants to leave China.

"The laws of Canada are quite attractive," says Ping Huan, counsellor general at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa.

"There are some loopholes and they feel if they can land in your country they can manage to survive."

Mr. Huan, who has only been at his Ottawa posting for a few months, said he was glad to see the Canadian government treating the two recent boat loads of refugee claimants from China with such decency. "I care about them."

But he couldn't help feeling slightly surprised to see them freed so quickly after their arrival.

For the migrants, who risk life and limb on rickety boats to reach Canada, it makes the journey all worthwhile, he said. "It's a success actually."

Word travels back to China as quickly as a telephone call, said Mr. Huan, who noticed news footage of the freed refugee claimants lining up with phone cards to make long distance calls from Victoria last month.

Both Mr. Huan and Jiang Yuan, vice counsellor general at the Chinese consulate in Vancouver, stressed that China condemns the smuggling rings that aid illegal immigration and does what it can to staunch the flow.

In 1994, the government passed a law against people smuggling from China to countries abroad. Another law governs the entry and exit for all Chinese citizens.

Mr. Huan was not sure of the penalties for either crime, but said smugglers are "strongly" punished.

The Chinese government also runs educational campaigns warning that opportunities in North America are not as sweet as the smugglers, known often as snakeheads, make them out to be, Mr. Jiang said.

"Don't be fooled by human smugglers. Don't believe there is an easy life in the Western world."

In reality, most of the people can't afford to pay up-front for their rudimentary passage and climb on the boats hugely indebted to their smugglers. Once in North America, they are sent out to work at menial jobs and forced to repay loans which can run as high as $60,000.

Mr. Jiang said illegal immigrants whose asylum claims are rejected are not severely punished upon their return to China.

"There is no prison term, only a fine. The main purpose is to educate them," he said.

The failed refugee claimants fear more the backlash from disgruntled smugglers who have little hope of collecting on their debts at lower Chinese wage rates.

The arrival of the second group of boat people made headlines in the Chinese press in Vancouver, where three Chinese language daily newspapers compete for readers.

Ming Pao ran a full page story, with a headline that emphasized the children on board.

Susanna Ng, Ming Pao's news editor, said it's very unusual to see children among the migrants who leave Fujian province by boat.

"The youngest we have ever heard of before was 15 or 16."

The Sing Tao also played up the story, emphasizing reaction from the Chinese community who seem to believe the refugee claimants are not true refugees, but economic immigrants hoping for a better life.

In Hong Kong, where the media has been covering the exodus from Fujian for years,the story got a passing mention.

There was no word in the China Daily, an English language newspaper in the People's Republic of China. Yesterday's top news heralded the triumphant return of the country's best table tennis team.




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