charged in Hong Kong with being the Master of a passenger ship
having on board passengers in excess of the number allowed, he
faces a four-year jail sentence and a large fine if convicted under
new Hong Kong legislation intended to deter trafficking in refugees.
There is strong evidence to suggest that the passengers on the
HUEY FONG were not, as they claimed, genuine small boat refugees
who had been picked up at sea, but paying passengers whose departure
from Vietnam had been pre-arranged with the connivance of the
Vietnamese authorities.
E
7. A further vessel, the Panamanian-registered SKYLUCK believed
to be carrying some 3,000 Vietnamese refugees, is now anchored off
Hong Kong.
8. Hong Kong already face a much greater problem caused by
immigrants from China. Hong Kong traditionally accepts anyone to
whom the Chinese Government are prepared to give an exit permit.
But, because of the very crowded conditions in Hong Kong, it is
difficult for them to absorb immigrants at a rate of much more than
50 a day. In the early 1970s, when the numbers of immigrants from
China started to rise sharply, an informal agreement was reached
with the Chinese authorities to limit the numbers of exit permits
to about the 50-a-day level. In 1978, probably as a consequence of greater freedom of movement in China, the rate of arrivals again
rose, reaching over 300 a day by the end of the year. During the
year, more than 70,000 legal immigrants arrived from China. We have
made repeated representations about this to the Chinese authorities,
/emphasising
f