BACKGROUND NOTE
1.
The policy of the Hong Kong Government is to accept for permanent settlement only those displaced persons or refugees from Vietnam who have close relatives already living in the Colony.
In
addition, temporary refuge is given to those who make their way to Hong Kong in their own boats, or who are picked up at sea by vessels whose first scheduled port of call is Hong Kong.
2.
Since 1975, 10,500 former residents of Vietnam have been
allowed to settle permanently in Hong Kong. On 21 January 1979 there were also 9,670 people from Vietnam in Hong Kong seeking to be resettled elsewhere. Of these, 3,771 have been allowed to enter Hong Kong temporarily and are under the care of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The remainder are recent arrivals whose applications to be allowed to remain temporarily in Hong Kong are still under consideration.
3.
However, the policy outlined above is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. On 23 December, the Panamanian registered, Taiwanese owned freighter, "Huey Fong", arrived off Hong Kong with some 3,400 Vietnamese refugees on board (the exact number has not yet been established). Since the vessel's next scheduled port of call was Kaohsiung in Taiwan, the master was originally refused permission to land the refugees in Hong Kong. He subsequently ignored repeated instructions from the Hong Kong Government to continue his journey to Taiwan. On 19 January the Hong Kong Government decided, on humanitarian grounds that this situation could not be allowed to continue. The master was told that he would not be prevented from entering Hong Kong waters, but might be liable to prosecution under Hong Kong law. He chose to do so. The passengers are now being disembarked and processed; at the same time the Hong Kong Government are looking into the possibility of prosecuting the
master.
4.
Another category who pose difficulties for Hong Kong are refugees from Vietnam who settled initially in China before moving
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