‘Since Dad went to work in England, Mum and I have been missing him all the time. Dad isn’t young anymore and he’s alone in a foreign country. It’s all because of me. What an unworthy daughter I am! Dad wants me to go to university and have a good life. He’s making money for me. We haven’t been in a photo together for five years. That’s how long he’s been gone. When the families have reunited over the New Year, we have only sorrow, and worries for Dad.’
This was written by a 17-year-old girl in China at the last Chinese New Year. A year later, nothing has changed. Her dad is still away and there is still no photo. Indeed, there will be no family photos for hundreds of thousands of Chinese children whose parents have ventured to ‘seek their fortune’ in Britain. The tragedy is that the parents are illegal immigrants whose destiny it is to be blackmailed by Snakeheads, exploited by ‘labour agencies’, mired in destitution, and, in some cases, to make the ultimate sacrifice of death; and even then, ignominious death.
As a Chinese Anglophile, I have recently become incensed by the way in which some of my compatriots, though illegal, are being treated in this country that I love. I am hugely saddened by the fifth anniversary of the Morecambe Bay incident (on 5 February), in which 23 illegal Chinese cockle-pickers drowned. They were forced to do a filthy job and they died a foul death. It has made me think how wrongly complacent the British are about the Chinese population. We Chinese have this reputation of being reticent, rather inscrutable, but minding our own business, excelling in our professions, and beavering away making money. It’s not a bad reputation and so as an ethnic group the Chinese do not cause any worry, still less alarm.
Yet there is cause for alarm. There are estimated to be around 170,000 Chinese illegal workers in this country, and a lot of them work under the most unspeakable conditions, which even Dickens might have found difficult to describe. More alarming is that some of the most respectable brands in Britain have benefited from the slave conditions (no other word for them) employed by some suppliers using illegal workers. I am now not sure if I could bring myself to use a microwave oven assembled in Hartlepool (where Mandelson was MP), or to buy supermarket pork ribs; or lettuce from Sussex, or spring onions from Worcestershire, or daffodils from Plymouth.
I have been educated about this disturbing state of affairs by someone I met recently: H.H. Pai, who has written a very moving book called Chinese Whispers. It is a chronicle of the depravities suffered by Chinese illegal immigrants. Miss Pai speaks with complete authority as she went undercover for a long time to gather the information and she can corroborate many unimaginable horror stories. The Guardian should be praised for giving key space to her investigations, as should Penguin for publishing her book of blood, sweat and tears.
It struck me that the testaments found in Pai’s book were uncanny echoes of complaints made by the 2,000 Chinese coolies in Cuba in 1837, when every single one of them was interviewed by three commissioners sent by the Chinese Emperor. None of the bad news has changed in 170 years! But thanks to Nick Broomfield — who, inspired by Pai’s book, made the heart-wrenching film Ghosts, dramatising the Morecambe Bay incident — the appalling circumstances are now better understood. When I watched it, it was hard for me to hold back my tears. I felt ashamed and knew something had to be done.
I went to see the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, about the plight of Chinese illegal immigrants. I asked her if the government might not at least allow those who had already been arrested to work in some limited way until they were deported; otherwise they will inevitably be driven underground and become victims of gross exploitation, just like all the other illegal immigrants. But Mrs Smith was not about to waver on the matter. While her approach might square with the interests of Britain and the EU, it doesn’t demonstrate compassion or bolster human dignity.
There are various measures which could be taken to improve matters. First, I would urge multinationals that have a reputation and a conscience to pay considerably more attention to their outside suppliers. They must be absolutely convinced through regular inspections that there are no sweat shops supplying their goods. It’s no good relying on ‘official’ reports.
Second, the government must increase the punishment for traffickers, who cram their human cargo into tiny rooms with peeling walls and soiled mattresses, make them work for 18 hours a day with no food — and, worst of all, steal their pitiful salaries. Police resources should be spent in hunting down the unscrupulous traffickers and their agents.
Third, we must take every step we can to stop ‘aspiring’ illegal immigrants from leaving China. They must be warned that Britain has zero tolerance towards economic migrants and that it is far from being a land of plenty and opportunity. The Chinese associations in this country, of which there are hundreds, must spread this message through their vast networks. They are, after all, paid to help the Chinese community, although the evidence is that they offer little help and don’t really care. The Chinese embassy shows a similar lack of concern. It is despicable that we are not helping our own people.
The cursed veil must be lifted from the illegal immigrants already in Britain. The government should consider an amnesty, especially for those who have already been here for a long time.
On 5 February we commemorate the 23 victims of the Morecambe Bay disaster. We will also remember the 58 others who suffocated in a container at Dover in 2001. I hope all of us will have the heart, especially in the spirit of the Chinese New Year, not to hide behind the legal and moral arguments, but simply to do something for these families, and especially for the children who have been left behind. Those wishing to make a difference or a donation should go to www.ghosts.uk.com. I urge all readers of The Spectator to do so.