GENERAL
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GEMINI
NEWS SERVICE
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GG 6053
NEW REFUGEE PROBLEM FOR HONG KONG
Overcrowded Hong Kong, afflicted through the years by thousands of refugees from China, is facing up to a new problem - refugees from Indochina. Many of these homeless people have fled from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos since the fall of US-backed regimes. In asking illegal entrants to come forward, the Hong Kong authorities are assuring
them they will not be sent home against their will. Gemini News Service reports.
By RICHARD TURNER
HONG KONG
Tiny, overcrowded Hong Kong, buffeted throughout its history by waves of refugees from China, is now having to tackle a new problem of illegal immigrants
from Indochina.
Until the communist victories in Indochina in 1975, refugees from the fighting in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos had for several years been trickling into the colony. Most were able-bodied young men escaping the draft, or wealthy families taking their money to a more secure environment.
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They would pay thousands of dollars to be smuggled away from their homelands in boats, and when they arrived in Hong Kong they would quickly go to ground knowing that if they were caught they would be sent back.
This human traffic went largely unnoticed until June 1974, when 119 Vietnamese refugees were arrested as they were being ushered into Hong Kong. The British colonial government was roundly criticised when it decided to send them back to South Vietnam where they faced certain punishment despite assurances given by Saigon to London.
However, after the collapse of the American-backed regimes in Indochina, immigration authorities in Hong Kong began to realise the extent of the problem on their hands. Confident that they would not be bundled back to their newly- communist home countries, hundreds of illegal immigrants began reporting to the authorities to acquire the necessary papers either to stay here or travel on to the United States or other countries.
In the first three months after the fall of Saigon, nearly 1,500 refugees reported to the Immigration Department. Also at this time a Danish ship, the Clara Maersk, rescued 4,000 Vietnamese refugees from their sinking ship and brought
them to Hong Kong.
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