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1000 in
corresponding period last year), although there was an Ene total number of boat people in the territory has now dropped below 55,000. Two thirds of this
year's new arrivals came from the South of Vietnam, a reversal of
the trend in 1989 when the great majority came from the North. About the same proportion are ethnic Chinese. It is still too early
to be sure how the rate of arrivals will develop and whether Hong Kong will escape an influx on the 1989 scale. But the sharp fall in the total number of arrivals as well as in the proportion coming
from the North may suggest that the Government's decision to
repatriate a small group of non-volunteers last December (see paragraph 33 below), coupled with the intensive publicity campaigns
mounted in recent months in the North of Vietnam, has begun to make
a real impact.
upsurge towards the end of April. e
face
30.
Good progress has also been made in resettling those with
refugee status in accordance with the pledges given at the Geneva
Conference in June 1989. More than half of the 13,000 refugees in
Hong Kong at that time will have been resettled in the West by June
1990. The Philippines Government have also agreed that refugees
from Hong Kong can be transferred to the refugee processing centre
at Bataan pending resettlement, thus helping to relieve pressure on
accommodation in the territory. If the transfer of refugees to
Bataan proceeds smoothly, there is thus every prospect that most, if
not all, of those with refugee status will leave Hong Kong by the
end of this year.
31.
Since the Geneva Conference last June, it has been accepted by
the entire international community that all those screened out as
non-refugees must return to their country of origin. It was also
agreed at the Geneva Conference that in the first instance every
effort should be made to encourage voluntary returns; but that if
after the passage of a reasonable amount of time the voluntary programme was not making sufficient progress, alternatives would be considered. The Government are doing everything they can to
encourage more volunteers to come forward and to speed up the rate
of voluntary returns. So far this year the number of volunteers has
CATAAU (13)
CONFIDENTIAL