HONG KONG has met a stony silence on its proposal to allow 75,000 mainland children into the territory by raising the quota for daily one-way permits.
The proposal would raise the daily quota to 100 from the existing 75 and 15 of the new places will go to mainland children who, along with their mothers, will have the right of abode after 1997.
China has not responded to the proposal, which was sent to them more than two months ago.
It is known that one of the reasons for the cool response was the Hong Kong Government's insistence on its right to make sure the additional daily one-way permits would go to mainland children with right of abode after 1997 and their mothers in China.
If agreed, this will be the first time that Hong Kong is allowed to screen one-way permit holders. It has always been China's sole discretion in selecting those allowed to come.
A source said the proposal aimed at solving a potential problem for the Special Administrative Region (SAR) government, since the 75,000 children could turn up at the border in July 1997 when the Basic Law over-rode the policy on daily quotas.