CONFIDENTIAL
are placing an increasing burden on Hong Kong; the rate of departure of refugees for permanent settlement elsewhere has not kept pace with the rate of arrivals and it has become very difficult to find suitable
accommodation for the increasing numbers./Over 5,100 small boat
refugees were allowed to land in Hong Kong in 1978 alone, and a further 1,110 have already arrived during 1979. By comparison, only just over 2,000 were resettled in other countries.
5.
The Hong Kong Government is responsible for its own immigration policies. The Governor is however aware of the
political sensitivity of this subject, and remains in constant contact with us over his Government's handling of the problem.
The "Huey Fong"
6.
The "Huey Fong", a Taiwanese owned Panamanian registered freighter with (according to the latest revised estimate) some 3,400 Vietnamese refugees aboard, has been anchored just outside
Hong Kong waters since 23 December. The Hong Kong Government have made it plain that they will not allow the vessel to disembark
the refugees in Hong Kong since its first scheduled port of call was Kaohsiung in Taiwan. This message was transmitted to the master when he was still over 1,000 miles from Hong Kong (and not signifi- cantly further from Kaohsiung) but he ignored it, and insisted on continuing to Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Government have provided the vessel with food, water and medical supplies, and have also provided medical treatment ashore for those who have needed it, but have repeatedly told the master that he should continue his voyage to Taiwan.
7.
The UNHCR have appealed to the Hong Kong Government to allow the refugees to land, although they are sympathetic to the
Hong Kong Government's problems. There are strong reasons for believing that the refugees on board are not, as the master of the vessel claims, genuine shipwreck survivors but people who paid for their passages and were picked up from Vietnam under a prearranged
plan. There is evidence that the Vietnamese authorities are encouraging such arrangements and profiting from them financially.
8.
The Hong Kong Government have recently taken additional legal powers which may enable them to prosecute the owners and masters of vessels engaged in the refugee traffic.
2 CONFIDENTIAL