HONG KONG - Split Families

September 2002 – 48 mins

 

REPORTER: Bronwyn Adcock

On the morning of June 7 this year, Mrs Cheng was home with her two children. Her husband had already left for work.

MRS CHENG (Translation): I was over there making breakfast. I hadn't brushed my teeth yet and I was still in my pyjamas. My son and daughter were asleep.

From the kitchen, Mrs Cheng heard voices at the door.

MRS CHENG (Translation): A group of more than ten people including the police came. I tried not to be concerned, or to look at them. They then told me to open the door.

She knew immediately who they'd come for. Her 19-year-old daughter, Sai Sui, was born in mainland China and only had a temporary permit to stay in Hong Kong. That permit had expired. Immigration officers gave Sai Sui just enough time to brush her teeth and pack her bags before they took her away.

MRS CHENG (Translation): I cried so much that day that I could barely breathe. My blood pressure shot up to 200, with me crying so much. My daughter was also afraid that she'd be handcuffed. My daughter then said to me, "Mum, I have to go. They'll handcuff me. I'm so afraid." She said "Why do they have to deport me, Mum? I've been here for so many years. Why do they have to take me away?"

Sai Sui was deported to mainland China later that day. She's just one of approximately 10,000 people Hong Kong doesn't want.

MR CHOW (Translation): All we are pleading for is family reunion. Right? But the government comes and arrests our children. They are handcuffed, put in a vehicle and taken away. They break down doors to enter our homes. Even slaves shouldn't be treated like that.

The parents in this room all share Mrs Cheng's plight. They are Hong Kong residents, but their children are not. The Government refuses to give their children the right of abode in Hong Kong, and has started sending them back to mainland China - by force if necessary.

MAN IN MEETING (Translation): I've said it before, we will persevere. Even if all our children are arrested, the parents will fight you. We will periodically challenge the authorities. Sooner or later, they will have to resolve this issue.

Some of the parents here are still fighting through the courts to prevent their children being repatriated. But time is running out. Although this man, Mr Wong, doesn't realise it yet, he's about to lose his fight. Two weeks later, police and immigration officers have descended upon this housing estate to arrest Mr Wong's adult daughter. It's after 10pm. In a small flat upstairs are Mr and Mrs Wong, their daughter, and the men who've come to take her away. The first to emerge is Mrs Wong. During the arrest of her daughter, she collapsed and lost consciousness. The next to be led out is Mr Wong. He and his wife are in their 70s and want their daughter to care for them as their health fails.

MR WONG (Translation): I want this matter to go to court now. I want to resolve it. It hasn't been resolved. Sir, take your wife to hospital.

MAN: She is in the ambulance.

MR WONG: I want to clarify this.

POLICE OFFICER: you're wasting time.

MR WONG: Her life's in danger. The case was heard on the 19th and not resolved. How can they come and arrest people now?

After the parents are taken away, the daughter, Ah Chi Wong, is led out. Within 24 hours, Ah Chi will be taken to the border and handed over to mainland authorities. As an over-stayer, she may face punishment in China. This is the sharp end of Hong Kong's approach to people they regard as illegal immigrants.

MICHAEL WONG, DEPUTY SECRETARY FOR SECURITY: It's really just like any other Governments - there's a need to control the number of people who can form and become part of this population. In the case of Hong Kong, we are a very small territory, the entire Hong Kong is but 1100 square kilometres.

Michael Wong is Hong Kong's Deputy Secretary for Security. The Security Bureau is in charge of removing children who don't qualify for right of abode.

MICHAEL WONG: If they do not enjoy the right of abode in Hong Kong under our law, that's something that they will have to accept. And the only way for them to come to Hong Kong for settlement purposes will be for them to go back to the mainland and apply to come to Hong Kong under legal channels.

BISHOP ZEN Z-KUIN: Mrs Regina Ip, is the chief of the Security Bureau. She is always making the comparison between what the US or Canada is doing with their immigrants. But I say, those are immigrants! Our people are not immigrants. They are Chinese. They are the children of Hong Kong people!

The unity of the family is central to Chinese culture. Yet for thousands of Hong Kong Chinese, a split family has been the norm for decades. The plight of these families today says much about how this city is faring under Chinese rule. Struggling with the promise of 'One Country - Two Systems'. Mrs Cheng's story is typical of many families seeking right of abode. It explains why they even need to seek that right in the first place. Mr Cheng is a construction worker who was born and raised in mainland China. This is where he met and married his wife.

MR CHENG (Translation): Life in the village was very tough. The people were so poor. So much so that affording food was a problem.

Just over the border, though, in British-controlled Hong Kong, the economy was booming, and there was an insatiable hunger for cheap unskilled labour. Throughout the 1970s, illegal immigration from the mainland was encouraged. The reward if they stayed was eventual Hong Kong residency. Like thousands of others, Mr Cheng decided to try his luck in Hong Kong. Late one night in 1980, he left his wife and baby son and scaled a border fence.

MR CHENG (Translation): At first life was hard, working on a construction site. At night and alone in bed, I would miss my family.

After seven years, Mr Cheng was granted Hong Kong residency, but under a policy of the British Colonial government, his wife could not automatically join him. Mrs Cheng had to apply to mainland authorities and wait to be granted a 'One-way permit.' In 1990, 10 years after her husband left, she was finally allowed to come. However, as was the norm, her two children were not. So Mrs Cheng left behind 7-year-old Sai Sui and her 11-year-old brother Kin.

KIN CHENG (Translation): We begged her to come back soon. My grandfather was still alive then. He held us back. We were hanging onto Mum and we wouldn't let her leave.

Three years later, Kin was allowed to join his parents in Hong Kong. Sai Sui, however, never received her one-way permit. As a result, she was raised by her grandparents on the mainland.

MRS CHENG (Translation): She blames me for only caring for her brother, for bringing him to Hong Kong and leaving her behind. It's so sad. I guess she'll blame me for a long time to come. I blame my stupidity. I don't know how to get her out. She kept blaming me. I told her it isn't my fault. It's the Public Security Bureau that's refused the application.

MR CHENG (Translation) The Bureau said only one child can be approved. Two is out of the question.

It's not unusual for Chinese authorities to issue a permit to only one child. There appears to be little rhyme or reason to the system of one-way permits. In one celebrated case, a man had to choose between his twin daughters. Rob Brooke is an Australian lawyer who lives in Hong Kong. He's represented 5,000 families in right-of-abode cases and says the one-way permit system is deeply flawed.

ROB BROOKE, LAWYER: There are even cases where the woman has just given birth and she gets a one-way permit and she must take it up within two weeks, otherwise it expires and this is the only opportunity for her to join her husband in Hong Kong. So she might be breast-feeding that baby but she's obliged to leave that baby in the mainland.

It's also a system he says that is notoriously corrupt.

ROB BROOKE: This is a fact which is commonly known throughout Hong Kong, throughout the Hong Kong government, that if you've got the money and you can pay the bribe to the people in the mainland who issue the certificate - and it's they who issue the certificate, the one-way permit is what it's called - then you might be able to get here earlier.

In 1997, the British handed Hong Kong back to China. The promise of 'One Country - Two Systems' was made. While the world held its breath and questioned the future of Hong Kong under Chinese rule, for right-of-abode seekers, it was a time of celebration. The reason for their joy was a document called the Basic Law. Before Handover, the British and Chinese authorities drafted what is effectively a mini-constitution for Hong Kong. The Basic Law laid out who has the right to be a permanent resident. This included, for the very first time, all mainland-born children of Hong Kong parents.

ROB BROOKE: I think there was a great deal of hope before 1997. There were families who had long awaited for the Basic Law to come into effect and who were expecting their children, who they'd been denied consortium with, parental consortium with for a decade or more in some cases, they were expecting them to be allowed to join them and that it would be a happy reunion.

On the first working day after Handover, thousands of people queued up outside the main immigration office to seek right of abode. Some have recently been smuggled to Hong Kong by organised people smugglers, called 'snakeheads'. Others had arrived on visitors' visas and overstayed. The Cheng family also saw 1997 as a time of opportunity and organised for snakeheads to bring Sai Sui to Hong Kong.

MRS CHENG (Translation): In 1997, people I knew told me to try and bring my daughter out as it was unlikely China would ever grant an exit permit. In Hong Kong, there may be a chance of sympathetic consideration for a child who has to live in China all alone. They suggested I give it a try, but my husband didn't believe it would work.

Mr Cheng's scepticism was well founded. Instead of receiving right of abode, hundreds were arrested and deported, in a sign of things to come. Just 10 days after Handover, the new Government rushed through legislation that prevented the families from applying for right of abode in Hong Kong. The Government went on to argue that the Basic Law didn't give all children right of abode - only those who were born after their parents became Hong Kong residents. Thousands of families lined up to fight the Government in court. But the new Beijing-appointed Chief Executive of Hong Kong stood firm. He promised a fair fight.

TUNG CHEE-HWA, HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE: We are a community very much of rule of law, so these challenges are natural, they're expected. And we will do what the Court eventually decides, because you know, we are a place of rule of law.

In January 1999, the highest court in the territory, the Court of Final Appeal, ruled that the Government was wrong, and the people were right. All children of Hong Kong residents had a right of abode. The families were ecstatic, believing that reunion was finally a legal reality. The Government, though, was far from overjoyed.

MICHAEL WONG: If followed through, it would create unacceptable pressure for Hong Kong, in terms of the population pressures, in terms of the pressures on provision of social services, on infrastructure that it could bring.

In an extraordinary move, the Hong Kong government turned to Beijing. It asked the National Peoples Congress to reinterpret the Basic Law. This unprecedented request effectively overruled the Hong Kong court and reversed its judgment.

MICHAEL WONG: We do not believe that the interpretation given by the Court of Final Appeal back in January 1999 reflected a true legislative intent behind those Basic Law provisions.

REPORTER: So the court made a mistake, did they?

MICHAEL WONG: The court made an interpretation that the Government did not agree with.

The families involved were devastated. Hundreds came to protest outside the government offices. The legal fraternity was also shocked.

REPORTER: Do you think that the judicial system in Hong Kong was actually undermined? Was it that serious?

MARGARET NG, BARRISTER: Absolutely. I think it was the most serious thing to happen in Hong Kong.

Margaret Ng is a barrister and independent member of the legislative council. She organised a protest against the reinterpretation in which 600 members of the legal community took to the streets. They marched in silence and wore black to mourn what they saw as a loss of judicial independence. The Government was accused of breaking its commitment to the rule of law.

MARGARET NG: The rule of law is based on quality before the law, and based on the government obeying the law because the Government is very powerful. If it chooses not to obey the law and the law only binds ordinary people then you don't have the rule of law in Hong Kong.

Even after Beijing's reinterpretation of the Basic Law, legal action continued. The final hope for right-of-abode seekers and their families was another case in the Court of Final Appeal in January this year. On the day the judgment was due to the handed down, long lines of people gathered outside the court to wait for the verdict. They were to be disappointed. The decision meant that right of abode was now ruled out for the majority of claimants, around 10,000 people. Siu Yan Wong was one of those who lost that day. Like most of the others, she was given until March 31 to leave Hong Kong. Siu didn't leave and to avoid arrest has gone into hiding. She didn't want the house she's staying in revealed, so we arranged to do this interview in a car.

SIU YAN WONG (Translation): Sometimes I feel quite bored and helpless. When I compare myself with the people in prison here, I tend to feel that I'm worse off because the prisoners can at least be certain that the police will not break in to arrest them. The idea of being raided frightens me psychologically.

Sui is 25 years old. Because she's here illegally, she can't work, study, or even walk the streets freely. Everyone in Hong Kong carries an identity card, and can be asked to present it at any time. Even a recent outing with friends was fraught with risk.

SIU YAN WONG (Translation): On that day, I saw lots of cops, I was very scared. My friends held my hands. One put a hand on my shoulder. Before, when I saw policemen, I'd feel fine. But when I saw them that day I was petrified.

Mr Chow heads the Parents Committee for Right of Abode Seekers. He says there are hundreds of people who are now in hiding. They and their families go to extraordinary lengths to evade the authorities.

MR CHOW (Translation): A group is formed in a street, at a housing estate or at any other place, to act as lookouts. They then warn the others. For example, in the morning... a parental group might be in the streets observing. If they see the vehicles from the immigration department or when the police vehicles arrive, they immediately inform the parents of illegal children by telephone. So that the affected people can hide or leave the scene. Despite the negatives, they all feel... this is the price to pay for the right to family reunion.

Sui is prepared to pay that price, because she believes her cause is just. She says her right to live in Hong Kong is enshrined in the Basic Law and she doesn't accept the reinterpretation. Sui also believes if she returns to China now, she'll be blacklisted by authorities and prevented from visiting her family for at least five years.

SIU YAN WONG Translation): If the worst happens and I'm ultimately arrested and sent back, I'm prepared to take that chance. I know many are in hiding after their applications have failed as returning to China is a doomed option. By staying here, there's some hope for a miracle.

The Catholic Church has been one of the strongest supporters of the right-of-abode seekers. The views of Bishop Zen in particular have won him no friends in Government.

BISHOP ZEN ZE-KUIN: People have a right to lessen the damage to themselves. So if they see that by staying here or by hiding they are gaining nothing and they want to go back and live peacefully, OK, they have a right to do that. But if somebody wants to keep fighting, they have a right to do so. They are conscious that they are not gaining anything. But still, it is an honourable thing and we support them because they are fighting for their rights. I think it is something sacred to fight for one's right, even though they know that he is losing the case, OK. We are losing with them, huh? But we fight, we still fight.

Apart from the Church, right-of-abode seekers do not have many supporters in Hong Kong. Albert Cheng is the host of a popular morning radio show called 'Teacup in a Storm'. While he personally thinks an injustice has been done to the right-of-abode seekers, the vast majority of his callers disagree.

CALLER (Translation): They can go back to China.

ALBERT CHENG, BROADCASTER: How will they make a living? Tell me, how will they work and make a living? How will they? Supposing the family were in Inner Mongolia, how will they make a living and be united with their families?

CALLER: They can return alone...

ALBERT CHENG: Bugger them, right?

CALLER: NO one's stopping them leaving.

ALBERT CHENG: Once they think they are not obeying the law, number two is they think these people will come to Hong Kong and become a burden to society, and they will drain the resources from housing, medical, schools, everything, you know, and basically, they just think they are coming here to steal their jobs.

The glory days when Hong Kong was one of Asia's most prosperous and confident cities are gone. Since 1997, the economy has been in rapid decline. Unemployment, once virtually non-existent, is pushing 8%. Suicide has emerged as a major social issue. A climate of fear and insecurity prevails, a climate the Government is accused of exploiting. It produced a survey saying that if right of abode were given, 1.67 million people would come to Hong Kong within 10 years, costing billions.

ROB BROOKE: One of the funny things was that some people did an analysis of this and basically the Government had everybody in education, on welfare, in public housing, and in prison, all at the same time, to come up with the sorts of figures which they came up with, even if there were 1.6 million people who were eligible, which figures themselves were highly controversial. But if you want to sway public opinion in Hong Kong, a very effective way of doing that is to talk about the hip pocket and to say that this will sink Hong Kong and they actually used those words - 'This will sink Hong Kong.'

ALBERT CHENG: I think our government, in that sense, we must compliment them. They have done a great job in dividing the people, in promoting the hatred among the people in Hong Kong to the new immigrants, or the right-of-abode seekers in Hong Kong.

REPORTER: You think the Government has...

ALBERT CHENG: They have done a great job, but it's dirty.

MICHAEL WONG: I would not say that. I don't see it that way. The fact remains that if we look at - again, if you look at the facts, I think that would be the best approach forward. If you look at the facts, then it is true that in terms of the knowledge level, that if you compare the average mainland migrant with an average Hong Kong people, you do see some discrepancy.

Shatin is a working-class suburb in an area called the New Territories - a world away from the neon-lit streets of central Hong Kong. This electrical appliances shop is owned by Mr Ho. He's come a long way from the penniless young man who swam to Hong Kong from China in 1978. The actions of the Government have not dampened his desire to have his family together.

MR HO (Translation): I've worked hard and lived in Hong Kong for some 30 years. Why can't I be united with my family now for human rights reasons? I've questioned the Immigration Department about that, but I haven't had a satisfactory answer.

Mr Ho's wife and two children came to Hong Kong illegally 2.5 years ago. Mr Ho paid snakeheads to smuggle them in by boat late one night.

MRS HO (Translation): I had my son and daughter in my care. At the time I felt as if I was being rushed. I had a heavy heart and felt very sad. I felt unwelcome everywhere. I wondered where I should be running away to. What I saw was an endless sea... Huge and angry waves. Sounds of waves, barking dogs, a sense of confusion... I'll never forget that feeling as long as I live. I've never experienced anything like that.

Mrs Ho and her children don't qualify for right of abode. When they arrived, they were given temporary permits to stay. After the final court ruling this year, the Immigration Department stopped extending the temporary permits of most right-of-abode seekers. The Ho's still have theirs, but now they only cover a seven-day period. Every week, they must report to the immigration office in the city, to see if they can stay another seven days. They live in a state of limbo.

MRS HO (Translation): Each time I go there, I go with a heavy heart. Both my feet and my heart feel the stress.

It's been hard for Mrs Ho and her children since they came to Hong Kong. When they arrived, they were told the children couldn't go to school. The Government says this would encourage illegal immigration.

MRS HO (Translation): No schooling for them. It's as if all my children's cherished ideals since childhood have been prematurely destroyed. Their childhood dreams, their aspirations. They loved going to school and won many prizes.

For the first year here, they had no education at all. They now go to school courtesy of two sympathetic principals, who are prepared to defy the Government to let them attend. However, they are only sit-ins, meaning there'll be no official record of their study.

BISHOP ZEN ZE-KUIN: Even if you agree with the Government on the right-of-abode issue, still it is unintelligible why those people who are here, even temporarily, with permission to stay here temporarily, should be deprived of schooling. You know, there are people - and their right of abode is not clear, so they have a case in the court, but they have to stay here one year, two, three, four. Why should these children not go to school?

After more than an hour of travelling, they arrive at the immigration office. Every day now, people like the Ho's are making this same trip, only to find their permits are not renewed.

MR HO (Translation): It's as if we're at a crossroad. We face deportation and rejection at any time. That kind of feeling is hard to bear.

They emerge only slightly relieved. They've had their permits extended for another week.

MRS HO (Translation): Time flies. Before I know it a week's gone. That's another source of stress. We'll have to do it all again next Tuesday.

Police are moving to end the protests that have been a hallmark of the last five years. Now the court cases are finished, the Government is concentrating on removing all those who are no longer qualify for right of abode. While some people are still resisting, the Security Bureau says more and more are volunteering to leave.

MICHAEL WONG: I think as and when they appreciate the determination with which the Government is handling the issue, as and when they come to accept the legal reality, I think most of them will then come to the conclusion that really, going back to the mainland is in their own best interest, then more and more people will go. This is something we are witnessing right at this moment as we speak.

Many right-of-abode seekers have been worn down by the struggle. At this recent protest outside Immigration Tower, a group of right-of-abode seekers is staging a last stand. Eight people who've been living illegally in Hong Kong are showing their faces in an act of defiance. They announce their presence to an immigration official who's come down from the building.

PROTESTER (Translation): We don't mind letting you know that eight of us here today have overstayed. You can take whatever further action you like, but we want to meet with your senior officer to discuss the right-of-abode issue.

IMMIGRATION OFFICIAL (Translation): I'll seek instructions on your proposal.

These people are desperate. The Government tells failed right-of-abode seekers to go back to the mainland and join the queue for a one-way permit, but the reality is that most are not even eligible to join that very long and deeply flawed queue. These protesters want to discuss their situation with the immigration commissioner. It soon becomes clear what the official's priority is.

IMMIGRATION OFFICIAL (Translation): Step forward, any applicants for residency who voluntarily wish to be repatriated today. We will take you to the office to complete the procedures.

PROTESTER (Translation): We're not volunteering to return. The Government has forced us. You can do what you want to do.

A large police presence quickly builds up. While public demonstrations are allowed in Hong Kong, authorities like them to be controlled. Past experience has also made them nervous. Two years ago, a protest by a small group of right-of-abode seekers at this same building turned to tragedy. One of the protesters doused himself in fuel in a suicide attempt. The fire spread, and as well as the protester dying, an immigration officer was also killed. Many others survived horrific injuries.

PROTESTER (Translation): Members of the press, we've been kept waiting, we've run out of patience. We intend to go in that direction.

Despite the defiance, some people here today have already made the decision to go back.

PROTESTER (Translation): It's been more than two years. I've wasted a lot of time and have lost my youth. I have lost everything, all I've achieved in China. I have to go back, I can't go out or get a job here. My parents are very old. My mother has a heart condition. I'm afraid that if immigration comes to arrest me, something might happen to her. I may as well go back.

The whole group eventually agrees to give themselves up. Family and friends are farewelled.

PROTESTER (Translation): I will be back. I will be back. Sorry, Granny. It's time to go.

PROTESTERS CHANT: Family reunion! Never give up! Give me back my justice! Give me back my right of abode! Reinterpretation of Basic Law, shameful! Forced repatriation, unreasonable! Family reunion! Never give up! Give me back my justice!

The group begin the walk into Immigration Tower, where they'll be processed for repatriation. Around the back of the Immigration Tower, family and friends wait to catch one more glimpse of them on the bus that is taking them back to China.

MICHAEL WONG: We appreciate the difficulties that some families may face, but if you are talking about huge sadness, then we do believe that many of those stories are exaggerated. The fact remains that travelling between Hong Kong and the mainland has become much easier now, and frequent visas are now possible and will become easier as time goes by.

It's a little over two months since that morning when the Chengs' daughter Sai Sui was taken by Immigration. Travelling to mainland China is the only option left if they want to see her. But it's not an easy option. Mrs Cheng will be making the trip tomorrow without her husband.

MR CHENG (Translation): I can't get leave. I did talk to the contractor. The trip takes at least two days. He wouldn't give me leave. I'm afraid that if I were to force the issue, he might fire me. Naturally, I'd like to go back to see my daughter, but what can I do if he won't give me leave?

Mrs Cheng's daughter is living in a small village in southern China. It's normally a six-hour bus ride from Hong Kong. Today we're going by car. While she's looking forward to seeing Sai Sui, Mrs Cheng is worried about her daughter's health.

MRS CHENG (Translation): She was never unwell until she returned to China. She caught a fever there and got sick.

Sai Sui is living with her elderly grandmother, who raised her in the village while her family were in Hong Kong. This will be only the second time Mrs Cheng has seen Sai Sui since she was deported.

MRS CHENG (Translation): It's very painful and my heart aches. I can't describe how hurt I am. It's so hurtful.

GRANDMOTHER (Translation): When she returned here, my grand-daughter cried out for her mother, father and brother. I assure you there were floods of tears. She doesn't eat at all. She has no appetite at all. I'm almost 80. How can I take care of her? Whenever I think of this, I shed tears. It's so sad. We're poor, otherwise I'd like someone to take care of me. I'm blind. Since I can't see, I can't recognise other people. I can't see anything with my eyes. I have spurs on my spine and I can hardly walk. Furthermore, I have stomach problems. My legs and knees hurt. I can't get up when I'm sitting. Staying in this rural area is a waste. What can my grand-daughter achieve here? It's simply ruining her life.

Sai Sui spent most of her life growing up in this house, away from her parents and brother. When she finally joined them in Hong Kong four years ago, she hoped it would be for good. Now she's finding it difficult to readjust to life in the village.

SAI SUI CHENG (Translation): Life is hard. It's a long way to the market. This place isn't nice. There are many bad people about. Security is also a problem. This place is out of the way. I have to walk to the markets to buy food.

Sai Sui says she desperately wants to be with her parents and brother.

SAI SUI CHENG (Translation): It's hurtful. I've never felt such pain before. I wish I didn't have to leave them. There's definitely no future in a place like this. What future is there here? There can be no future here. I don't know where to go to find work. I don't...I don't want to stay here. I want to go and live with my family in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, back in Hong Kong, disquiet still exists in some circles about the events of the last five years. There's a view that this whole saga was only partly to do with the right-of-abode seekers themselves. At its heart was a power struggle between the Hong Kong judiciary and Beijing. The judgment handed down by the Court of Final Appeal back in January 1999 did more than just grant right of abode to the families. In its wording, it essentially asserted the independence of Hong Kong's judiciary from Beijing. This had never been done before.

MARGARET NG: This was considered a kind of insubordination and therefore these unruly people must be brought to their knees in submission.

Margaret Ng believes the pressure to seek reinterpretation of that judgment actually came from Beijing.

MARGARET NG: So if we go to the question of what this has got to do with Beijing, it has started with Beijing, it was insisted on by Beijing, and it was ultimately given by Beijing, so I will take some convincing to believe that this is entirely a matter for us.

This all throws into doubt the claim of Hong Kong and China existing as 'One Country - Two Systems'.

MARGARET NG: The question is how long these two systems will last and how well can we run a separate system if, at the top - that is, at the Chief Executive - they will always be mindful, looking over their shoulders, as to whether something would offend Beijing.

Having exhausted all legal avenues, there's little hope left for the families involved. Mr Wong has not seen his daughter since she was snatched in a late-night raid. Since that night, his health has deteriorated. He's now in hospital. Sui is still leading her life of subterfuge, changing houses frequently and avoiding authorities. When recently reporting to the Immigration Centre, Mrs Ho and her children were informed their time was up. They've been told to prepare for deportation. During her stay in China, Mrs Cheng was told by security officials that her daughter has now been blacklisted. Sai Sui will not get any kind of permit to visit Hong Kong for at least two years.

BISHOP ZEN ZE-KUIN: Now they talk about the prosperity of Hong Kong, et cetera, but those people, I mean the parents of these children, they are the people who made the prosperity of Hong Kong. I don't think the prosperity of this city was built only on the capitals of the few rich people. I think the prosperity came from the hard work of the people in general, and so why should they not have their children come here? I think it's very unfair.