Hong Kong iMail: The blacklist that is really a 'names list'

28 May 2001

WHEN is a blacklist not a blacklist?

According to Deputy Director of Immigration Lai Tung-kwok, when it is an ''entry-control name-list'' of people to be kept out of the SAR.

Mr Lai sought to draw this fine line yesterday to prove that both of his bosses - Secretary for Security Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee and Director of Immigration Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong - were right, despite their seemingly conflicting statements on the issue. But the distinction would probably be lost on the compilers of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, which defines a blacklist as ''a list of people or groups regarded as unacceptable or untrustworthy''.

Mrs Ip admitted last week the department had a list of undesirable persons, while Mr Lee insisted after the banning of Falun Gong practitioners during this month's visit by President Jiang Zemin that there was no blacklist.

Mr Lai said yesterday there was no conflict between the comments as the department did not regard its ''entry-control name-list'' as a ''blacklist'', as it was commonly termed by the media. ''The decision on allowing anyone entry into the SAR is made according to immigration information we have gained as well as the current situation and environment,'' he said. He said the list had existed for ''a period of time'' that he did not specify and it was updated and reviewed ''from time to time''. He would not disclose what sorts of people were on the list.

The Falun Gong - one of several organisations that staged protests during the Fortune Global Forum from May 8 to 10 - said 102 overseas practitioners were barred from entering the SAR. This prompted statements of concern from the United States, Britain and Australia.