Forced Repatriation of Chinese Seamen from Liverpool After World War Two

Kim Johnson Excerpts

Wednesday 21st July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab) [V]]

It is a privilege to bring forward my first Chamber Adjournment debate on an issue of deep concern to both the long-established Chinese community in Liverpool and constituents of Liverpool, Riverside, as well as many communities across the country. I am really disappointed that I cannot be in the Chamber in person this evening. I tested positive for covid over a week ago, and, sadly, I am still self-isolating.

Liverpool is proud to be the home of the longest established Chinese community in Europe, connected to Shanghai, Hong Kong and other ports of the far east by Alfred Holt and Company, a shipping line founded in the mid-19th century. The Chinese community grew quickly into thousands and established Chinatown in the heart of the city. The Imperial Arch’s red and gold gateway stands tall today as the largest of its kind in the world outside of China. A thriving community established itself in the heart of Liverpool behind the south docks. Grocery stores, restaurants, lodgings houses and The Nook pub were all busy with Chinese seamen on shore leave and the hundreds, then thousands, who settled and made Liverpool their home.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the forced repatriation of thousands of Chinese seamen by the Home Office after the second world war, which left many families abandoned without support and with no idea what happened to their loved ones. I first became aware of this injustice over 15 years ago, after listening to personal testimonies from the descendants on a Radio 4 broadcast. Becoming an MP has provided me with the opportunity to support their fight for justice. This was one of the most nakedly racist actions ever undertaken by the British Government and is a shameful stain on our history, yet many of the actual details and the decisions associated with this atrocity are yet to come to light. The families are still searching for answers; it has never been formally acknowledged, investigated or apologised for.

Many of the deported seamen had served in the allied war effort. They put their lives on the line in enemy waters to support the British war effort in our hour of need by keeping us fed, fuelled and safe. During the war as many as 20,000 Chinese seamen worked in the shipping industry out of the Liverpool docks, and they were treated really badly, only receiving half the basic wages of their British crewmates and on worse terms and conditions. They were not granted the standard £10 a month war risk bonus, and as a reward for their bravery, their families and loved ones received less compensation when they died in battle.

The Liverpool Chinese Seamen’s Union went on strike and eventually won pay increases in 1942, but their battle for full equality continued. The Chinese seamen would be employed working in the most dangerous jobs in the engine rooms and below decks. Thousands gave their lives during the perilous campaign under heavy bombardment from Nazi U-boats. By the end of the second world war, the Home Office estimated that there were around 2,000 decommissioned Chinese seamen. Those who survived the war returned to Liverpool, where many had established relationships with local women. They set up home and started families, but from late 1945, hundreds suddenly disappeared with barely a trace.

Unknown to the families, behind closed doors, in the corridors of power, decisions to remove their unwelcome presence were set in motion. Intent on expelling these so-called “undesirables”, the Home Office, under the post-war Attlee Government, issued instructions to deny their right to work onshore. Immigration officers began to amend the papers carried by Chinese seamen. This harassment, however, did not go far enough to produce the intended result, so a plan was set in motion in the depths of this Parliament for mass forcible repatriation.

In October 1945, a secret meeting was called in Whitehall, which sparked the opening of a new file, titled “Compulsory repatriation of undesirable Chinese seamen”. The Home Office decreed that its contents were not to be discussed in the House of Commons, the Lords or with the press, or to be acknowledged to the public. At this meeting, it was alleged that the seamen had caused trouble with the police, and that their wives were no more than prostitutes, but no evidence has ever been produced to justify those scandalous claims. Their revelation has caused untold distress to the descendants of these seamen, many of whom were brought up by their stalwart mothers, facing poverty and isolation after their fathers were forcibly repatriated.

The following July, the Liverpool constabulary carried out the orders issued by the British Government to indiscriminately round up and forcibly repatriate thousands of Chinese seamen on Merseyside. Along with the official records, oral testimonies from Liverpudlians who witnessed the events provide accounts of immigration wagons prowling the streets of Liverpool and seizing men by force, police forcing their way into boarding houses, and home visits from undercover officers to seize documents and erase any record of the deported seamen.

We know that about 2,000 seamen were deported, snatched from their homes and their loved ones and dumped unceremoniously on the shores of a homeland that many had left decades before. Their families were never told what was happening; they were never given a chance to object, or even a chance to say goodbye. Most of the Chinese seamen’s British wives and partners went to their graves never knowing the truth, left to believe that their husbands had abandoned them along with their children, suffering immeasurable trauma from the actions of the British Government. Only decades later, when declassified official records revealed the shocking truth, did the children begin to understand what had happened after the war and begin to make sense of the wrongs that had been done to them, causing untold grief for the remaining family members—but, for all the painful revelations that have been uncovered, much is still unknown.

I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to some of the descendants for their tireless efforts to uncover this grave injustice—Peter Foo, Yvonne Foley, Judy Kinnin, Perry Lee, Brian Wong, Linda Gates, Maria Lin-Wong, Rosa Wong and Keith Cocklin, alongside many others, as well as to Zi Lan Liao and the Pagoda Chinese Community Centre in Liverpool Riverside—and for shedding some light on what happened. I pay tribute to them for their extensive research in near-impossible circumstances, and their commitment to righting this wrong and winning some form of justice for all those whose fathers and husbands were wrenched from them by the British state. Their painstaking investigations have been invaluable in bringing a shameful episode of British history to light, but they have received no official help with this immense task. However, despite the tireless efforts of many of the children—a number of whom are my constituents—tracing the stories of their fathers has proved incredibly difficult. Shipping lists are incomplete, and inconsistent naming systems full of errors mean that many have been lost to history.

At a time of increased race hate attacks on our east Asian communities owing to racism stoked by covid, it is vital that we fight for long overdue justice for the Chinese community in Liverpool by uncovering and acknowledging this shameful history of state violence. I have made several attempts to call for a formal acknowledgement and apology from the Government for these injustices on the Floor of the House. I have asked the Prime Minister directly for an acknowledgement and an apology during Prime Minister’s questions, but my request was met with bluster and a clear lack of understanding. I have also written to the Leader of the Opposition asking him to apologise on behalf of the Labour party, on whose watch this happened.

Will the Minister today, on behalf of his Government, commit to launching an inquiry into the decision to forcibly repatriate these seamen after the second world war, as a chance to set the record straight, formally acknowledge these events, and issue a full and formal apology for these grave injustices, so that the families can finally get the answers they have been seeking? Will he also agree to meet me and the families who have waited a lifetime for justice? Many are now in their 70s, and, sadly, many have died. Does the Minister agree that justice delayed is justice denied?