RESTRICTED
21.
4. Refugees from Northern Vietnam normally leave in small boats, many of which have previously been confiscated by the authorities from ethnic Chine se fishermen and for which the refugees have to make payment to PSB officials or middlemen. Sometimes the refugees find their own boats or use boats some of their number have managed to retain. Substantial payments, though not normally in gold as in the South, have to be made to the authorities for permission to leave and PSB officials prepare lists of those to whom permission was granted. Last minute searches and confiscation by the PSB mean that the refugees normally set sail with few personal possessions. Before leaving they are warned, under threat of retaliation against relatives who remain, not to talk about conditions in the country.
PSB vessels often tow the small boats out to They are sometimes intercepted later and further payments have to be made.
sea on payment.
5.
Having left North Vietnam, the refugees normally keep close to the China coast heading for Hong Kong, which has a reputation for not turning refugee ships away. The boats are normally under sail and overloaded and the voyage can take over one month. They often stop for shelter in small Chinese ports on the way and obtain additional provisions there or from passing fishing vessels. In at least one case, it is known that boats and passengers have been taken on board a large vessel and disembarked before reaching Hong Kong waters.
Events in South Vietnam in 1979
A
6. The measures taken by the Vietnamese authorities against ethnic Chinese living in the south have been somewhat less rigorous than in the morth but the objective of forced departure after exaction of substantial sums is the same. In October 1978 leading members of the ethnic Chinese community were instructed by the PSB to arrange for those wishing to leave to register with the PSB and make payment in gold and other valuables. highly organised system has developed which is controlled by a Government Department in Ho Chi Minh City and run largely by the PSB, of continual persuasion to leave and of payment in gold (if necessary by arranging for currency transfers by friends and relatives overseas) once the decision is made to go.
Groups are then assembled to make up a shipload of
The appropriate size and moved to the coast, where they are embarked. movement is throughout under the control of the PSB, who in some cases, after confiscating property, oblige the refugees to sign a declaration that the handover was purely voluntary.
7.
Large vessels like the "Huey Fong" and the "Sky Luck" have been used. but, since the various deterrent measures taken by the Hong Kong Government over the last few months against such ships, none has sailed recently. However, it is known that plans for more to do so possibly to destinations more distant than Hong Kong - remain under active consideration; and that a number of large ocean-going vessels have visited Vietnam in recent months for possible use in this way.
/cont'd.