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Indo-China:
[Lord Geddes.]
[LORD$ ]
As we have heard, it is estimated that there are between 14 million and 2§ million ethnic Chinese in Vietnam. Add to that the many ethnic Vietnamese who also wish to leave, and the potential numbers of refugees from Vietnam could be on a scale that almost defies today's imagina- tion.
I mentioned two facets. The first was sheer numbers. The second, which, if true, is disgraceful in the extreme, is the alleged connivance, and perhaps even active involvement, of the Vietnamese authorities in accepting-that is, charging
-between 2,000 and 3,000 United States dollars payable in gold per head to allow refugees to leave Vietnam. I would emphasise that such allegations, although widely reported by authoritative journa- lists, have yet to be proved and should therefore be treated with corresponding caution. The noble Lord, Lord Goronwy- Roberts, in reply to a supplementary question on 31st January from the noble Lord, Lord Harris of Greenwich, referred to,
"
"the enormity of the guilt of those who are responsible for this massive enforced exodus ' [Official Report, col. 134.)
If the Press reports to which I have refered are proven, how much greater is the enormity of that guilt?
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Refugee Problem suggesting that the United Kingdom Government have a very strong obligation, both to emphasise the problem of Vietna- mese refugees on the international stage, not least by continued representations in the strongest terms to the Vietnamese Government, and, more particularly, to honour their obligations to Hong Kong in doing their utmost, in discussions with other Governments and the United Nations, in relieving Hong Kong of its increasing burden.
The noble Lord, Lord Elton, mentioned the possibility of what might be called an interim island. Such an island would certainly be a precedent-and I too, have the same very similar doubts to those expressed by the noble Lord-and it would be a risky precedent. But, it must be asked, would it be any more risky than an escalation of the present ad hoc situation? I can really do no better than end by quoting from the same editorial as that instanced by the noble Lord, Lord Elton, that of the South China Morning Post of 9th February, which read in part:
Unless we
鲁多
that is, Hong Kong-
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are careful, humanitarianism for these new- comers can breed social problems in the future. The Vietnamese influx, in time, will only exacer- bate the problems created by the current Chinese influx. So while expressing our utmost sympathy, let us not allow such sympathy to blind us to the reality of the consequences of accepting increasing numbers of people, quite apart from the more obvious fact that by opening up our territory with its very limited resources we can only progressively dilute the quality of life that our people have struggled so hard to achieve in recent years ".
On the same occasion, the noble Lord, Lord Goronwy-Roberts, referred to the excellent, but increasingly difficult, task being performed in this context by the Hong Kong Government. I should like to re-emphasise the praise given to Hong 9.14 p.m. Kong for both its approach and its action. The appalling dilemma, certainly for Hong Kong, is that it just cannot continue. As well as the arrival in Hong Kong in the last six weeks of some 10,000 refugees from Vietnam, a further 13,000 refugees from China have arrived over the same period. If that kind of rate con- tinues Hong Kong will, by the end of this year, have taken in, whether permanently or temporarily, an extra 200,000 refugees in 12 months.
To put that figure into certainly one kind of perspective, the United Kingdom, with a population rather more than 10 times Hong Kong's, would be faced with a refugee influx of 2 million in 12 months. I am not suggesting that the United Kingdom has any such obligation. I am
My
Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS: Lords, the House will indeed be grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Elton, for giving it the opportunity to debate this important and poignant Question and for the power- ful and informed speech with which he opened the discussion. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled various countries in South-East Asia since the events of 1975, suffering great hardship, losing their possessions and, indeed, losing life itself in many cases. The British Government, the British people and Parlia- ment have expressed in practical terms, as well as otherwise, their profound sympathy for these refugees, and tonight we have again emphasised our profound concern about the continuation of this terrible situation in that part of the world.