BACKGROUND NOTE
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG
1.
The collapse of the non-Communist regimes in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in 1975 resulted in large numbers of Vietnamese,
Laotians and Cambodians leaving their countries. The UNHCR
estimated at the time that over 140,000 Vietnamese left
South Vietnam, the bulk of these, about 130,000, went to the USA, whereas most of the Laotians and Cambodians went to Thailand.
Since then the USA have admitted a further 25,000 (this figure does not include the so-called "boat people") and France about 35,000. The United Kingdom has so far accepted 695 refugees, including 173 "boat people", the majority of whom are Vietnamese.
2. Hong Kong has provided temporary or permanent homes for over 10,000 Indo-Chinese refugees. This figure includes some 4,500 former Hong Kong residents or dependents of Hong Kong residents who have left Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) since last year in special flights organized by the Hong Kong Government with the assistance of our Embassy in Hanoi. The Hong Kong Government, with some help from UNHCR, arranged for the resettlement of a very large number of refugees in the United States, France and Canada and smaller numbers in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark and the UK. The continuing influx of refugees and illegal immigrants has placed a heavy strain on Hong Kong's services and has led to some resentment on the part of the permanent population of what is, in any case, a very overcrowded territory. This resentment is largely caused by the Hong Kong Government's policy of repatriating illegal immigrants from China. There are strong ethnic ties between this group and the population of Hong Kong who largely fail to appreciate the reasons behind a tough policy towards Chinese coupled with a lenient one to Vietnamese. The explanation is that immigrants from China are not refugees.
3. Vietnamese refugees continue to arrive in Hong Kong in small numbers either directly or through being picked up at sea by merchant shipping. (These are the "boat people".) They are