HKGD
EXERPT FROM SPEECH MADE BY THE LORD PRIVY SEAL ON WEDNESDAY,
30 MAT AT GREAT MISSENDEN, BUCKS
kk 243/1
RECEIVED IN REGISTAY NO. 51
:
- A JUNIETNAMESE REFUGEES
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
по
PA
Her Actual 13075
ん
Me. Helax. vi
dy/vi
AcThe appalling plight of Indo-China refugees, and in
Marticthas of the so-called Vietnamese boat people, has been
highlighted by the rescue of 982 of them by the British ship
Sibonga. The Government's decision to accept for settlement
in this country those of the refugees who want
refugees who want to stay here
has been widely welcomed.
Boat people are now reaching Hong Kong at the rate of
(867
a thousand a day, saturating all available accommodation.
The refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are also flooding
into other South-East Asian countries. Malaysia and Thailand
have been most gravely affected. This disorderly exodus
threatens the stability and welfare of the whole area.
This mass migration results from the deliberate policy
of the Vietnamese Government. This must be one of the most
Quite simply, the
callous and cynical in recent history.
Vietnamese government makes life so intolerable for its own
population, that these people have no choice but to leave.
It is noticeable that the overwhelming proportion of boat
people are Vietnamese citizens of Chinese descent, many of whom
have been resident in Vietnam for generations and whose thrift
and industry had enabled them to acquire a reasonable standard
of living. Many of those originating in the North, had risen
to places of authority in the Vietnamese armed forces and
adminstration. These people have now been demoted or thrown
out of their jobs, and subjected to all kinds of harrassment
with a view to getting them to leave. Such a blatantly
/racialist