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HONG KONG GOVERNMENT OFFICE THE WEEK IN HONG KONG
30TH DECEMBER, 1978 5TH JANUARY, 1979
REFUGEE SAGA CONTINUES
The freighter, Huey Fong, was still anchored off Hong Kong waters and the Hong Kong Government wes continuing to provide food, fresh water, medical supplies and other essentials to the 2,700 Vietnamese refugees aboard.
The Government has remained firm in its stand that the ship, with its human cargo, should sail to her scheduled first port of call, Kaohsiung, in Taiwan,
However,
Several sick refugees have been evacuated by helicopter and hospitalised. Seasickness was the major problem on board, the ship's Master told Government officials. Because of this, he did not wish to go to Paiwan. he promised to take the ship to Taiwan if the Taiwan Government would allow the refugees to land and be sub- sequently resettled in USA, Canada and France where they had relatives. He was told that the Hong Kong Government could not speak on behalf of the authorities in Taiwan.
The Master asked if Hong Kong could contact the governments of USA, Canada and France with a request to accept the relugees, and meanwhile allow the refugees to land in Hong Kong. He was told that there were already over 5,000 refugees from Vietnam in Hong Kong awaiting resettle- ment elsewhere. They had been allowed to land in accordance with the first port of call principle. Reaffirming the Government's stand, the Director of Information Services, Mr. John Slimming, seid: "In saying no to the Huey Fong and by adhering to the first port of call principle, we are not thinking only of this group of refugees. We are not saying no to this one vessel but to the possibility of scores of vessels." He said there were clear indications that many more refugees would come.
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Mr. Slimming stressed that Hong Kong already had to cope with the influx of legal inai rents from China. A total of 71,571 legal immigrants from China arrived in Hong Kong last year, compared with 26,449 in 1977 and 20,453 in 1975.
SOCIAL WELFARE FORGES AHEAD
The year 1978 was described as one of
one of "expansion and improve- ment in the social welfare scene" by the Director of Social Welfare, Mr. Thomas Lee. He felt confident that a lot more would continue to happen this year. This included the publication shortly of a comprehensive White Paper on Social Welfere, which would set out the Government's policy on further development in various welfare services in the yearà ahead.
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