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WERE BEING ACCEPTED FOR RESETTLEMENT OVERSEAS WAS FALLING
SHARPLY. HONG KONG WAS THEREFORE FACED WITH THE PROSPECT OF ITS
CAMP POPULATION RISING AGAIN TO THE LEVELS OF 1979/80, WITHOUT
ANY PROSPECT OF A CORRESPONDING INCREASE IN RESETTLEMENT. THE
RESULTANT SITUATION WOULD RAPIDLY HAVE BECOME UNMANAGEABLE.
SINCE A REFUSAL TO ALLOW REFUGEE BOATS TO ENTER HONG KONG WAS AND
IS CONSIDERED UNACCEPTABLE FOR HUMANITARIAN REASONS, THE CLOSED
CAMP POLICY WAS THE MOST HUMANE MEASURE OF DETERRENCE THAT WAS
AVAILABLE TO THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT. THERE WAS STRONG PUBLIC
PRESSURE IN HONG KONG TO INTRODUCE SUCH A POLICY FOR SEVERAL
REASONS: SIMILAR POLICIES HAD ALREADY BEEN ADOPTED BY OTHER
PLACES OF ASYLUM IN THE REGION (IN SOME CASES SINCE 1979): HONG
KONG ALREADY EXPERIENCED ACUTE PROBLEMS AS A RESULT OF THE LARGE
INFLUX OF IMMIGRANTS FROM CHINA IN RECENT YEARS AND THE PUBLIC
WERE ALARMED AT THE PROSPECT OF HONG KONG GIVING SHELTER
INDEFINITELY TO INCREASING NUMBERS OF VIETNAMESE: THEY OBJECTED
TO THE FACT THAT THERE WAS AN 'OPEN DOOR' POLICY TOWARDS THE
VIETNAMESE WHILE CHINESE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WITH WHOM THEY HAD
CLOSE CULTURAL, AND OFTEN FAMILY TIES WERE AS A MATTER OF
GOVERNMENT POLICY REPATRIATED TO CHINA (SINCE LATE 1979 ETHNIC
VIETNAMESE, WITH NO CULTURAL OR OTHER LINKS WITH HONG KONG, HAVE
COMPRISED 98 PERCENT OF ALL ARRIVALS IN THE COLONY FROM VIETNAM).
THEY DID NOT SEE WHY THE VIETNAMESE SHOULD BE GIVEN SPECIAL
TREATMENT, ESPECIALLY SINCE TO AN INCREASING EXTENT THEIR PRIMARY
MOTIVATION FOR LEAVING THEIR COUNTRY, LIKE THAT OF CHINESE
IMMIGRANTS SEEMED TO BE ECONOMIC RATHER THAN POLITICAL.
EFFECTIVENESS OF THE POLICY
3. IN HIS ORAL EVIDENCE TO THE SUB-COMMITTEE MR LUCE PROVIDED
STATISTICS OF REFUGEE ARRIVALS FOR HONG KONG AND FOR THE SOUTH
EAST ASIA REGION AS A WHOLE WHICH DEMONSTRATE CLEARLY THAT THE
HONG KONG ARRIVAL RATE HAS DECREASED CONSIDERABLY MORE SHARPLY
THAN THAT OFTHE REGION SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CLOSED CAMP
POLICY. (Q 223) IN OTHER RESPECTS HONG KONG IS AN ATTRACTIVE
PLACE FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS: IT IS GENERALLY RECOGNISED THAT THE
MATERIAL CONDITIONS IN HONG KONG'S CAMPS, INCLUDING THE CLOSED
CAMPS, ARE BETTER THAN THOSE OF MOST OTHER COUNTRIES OF THE
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