This is not a unilateral decision by the British and Hong Kong
Government: it would be the recoginsed position anywhere in the world
wherever they came from or went to.
It is normal international practice to return illegal
immigrants to their own country.
But I must stress that genuine refugees will retain the right to stay safely in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement.
Forced Repatriation
The Vietnamese boat people must face the fact that their
future lies in Vietnam. It must be right to work, as we are, for
the best possible arrangements for their return.
We are of course acutely conscious of the need to be fair and
to be seen to be fair by everyone involved.
Tha is why we decided to use the objective international criteria established by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to determine who were genuine refugees and who were not; and moreover made sure that the UNHCR were satisfied with the
procedures we set up in Hong Kong.
We are not washing our hands of those who cannot stay in Hong Kong. We have made it clear to Vietnam that those returning must be treated humanely and their reintegration into Vietnamese life must
also be monitored by the UNHCR.
The Vietnamese authorities have assured us that returning boat people will not be punished.
Assurances of good treatment on return
We have held two rounds of talks with representative of the Vietnamese Government, most recently in London in Mid-October.
UNCLASSIFIED