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(b) Of the 135,600 boat refugees resettled from all
places of first asylum in 1979, only 18% came from Hong Kong, compared with 50% from Malaysia. At
been
the end of 1979, Hong Kong had 38% of the boat refugees in the region compared with Malaysia (25%) and Indonesia (24%) and it still had then almost
the same number of refugees (52,000 +) that it had at the time of the Geneva Conference in July.
Problems (c) The problem of beat refugees in Hong Kong must be
seen against the background of serious immigration pandets from China. An estimated 280,000 immi- grants have had to be absorbed in the last 2 years and they are still coming in at a rate of 300 a
day. These latest immigrants, unlike earlier
waves in the 1950s and 1962, have little to offer as they come from a background of poor educational standards and eroded respect for social discipline during the Cultural Revolution. In the past 2 years,
consequent social problems have the strain imposed by absorbing such large numbers has to some extent been masked by the coincidence of a period of low unemployment in Hong Kong. This may not last for long. Hong Kong residents see
this as a threat to their ent standard of liv-
ing and future aspirations. An economic downturn could
w generate social tension and refugees from Vietnam; if they remain in significant numbers, could well be a target for discontent.
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