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Recent Arrivals including Ex-China Vietnamese
10.
Meanwhile the situation in Hong Kong is causing new concern. The summer monsoon (May-October) usually brings most of Hong Kong's new arrivals from Vietnam. The figures have however climbed swiftly in recent weeks. In addition there has been a massive influx of Vietnamese arriving from China where they had previously been settled. Since mid-June, some 8,000 of these ex-China Vietnamese have arrived in Hong Kong. As a result, resources in Hong Kong have been severely strained and emergency measures implemented to cope with the crisis. Following a message from the Secretary of State to Chinese Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian on 13 August, and Wu's positive and helpful reply or 17 August Hong Kong Government and Chinese provincial officials met in Guangdong province to discuss measures for the early repatriation of the new arrivals to China. repatriation process is now well under way (though as time goes on it may slow somewhat, as Hong Kong and the Chinese authorities will need longer to establish the identities and origins of some of the more complicated cases). As at 5 September, 1,045 ex-China Vietnamese have been returned to China.
The
Meanwhile the arrival rate
has slowed to a trickle. The combination of Chinese counter measures and wide press coverage of the repatriation operation will, we hope discourage further arrivals.
11.
The latest Vietnamese refugee statistics (as at 1 September
1987) are as follows:
Vietnamese refugees: 9,059 (of whom 5,907 are in closed
Ex-China Vietnamese
Illegal immigrants: 6,463
TOTAL 15,522
camps)
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