the British Trade Commission and the Consulate General:
they are therefore looking at other sites.
(V) Vietnamese Boat People
17.
The Government welcome the Committee's analysis of
this intensely difficult and sensitive problem. Since
the Committee's report was published the situation has deteriorated further;
deteriod the Hong Kong authorities are to
be congratulated on the way in which they have coped with
the crisis. As the Committee rightly state, the Hong
Kong Government had no alternative but to introduce a
screening policy in June 1988 (paragraph 5.2). It has
now been accepted by the entire international community
that all those screened out as non- refugees should
return to Vietnam. It is clear that voluntary returns
alone cannot provide a comprehensive solution to the
problem. It must be right to work for arrangements for
all those who are not refugees to be returned to Vietnam
in safety and dignity. The Government have been
negotiating with the Vietnamese for the orderly return of
those who are not refugees. No-one would be returned
unless the Government were fully satisfied that they
would not be punished for having left, and that the
Vietnamese authorities were willing to allow the
treatment of all returnees to be carefully monitored. As
the Committee have recommended, (paragraph 5.6) the
other governments with an interest Government have made thier views very clear to the United in the problemo
•
States Governmenta As the Committee have also
recommended, (paragraph 5,8) the Government have
repeatedly pressed the Chinese Government to cooperate
over the issue and they shop continue to do co