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in the accepted international definition of the term, nor
have they crossed the open seas in small boats to get to
Hong Kong. This is largely because it has become easier and simpler in recent months to travel by road or rail through
Vietnam and China and enter Hong Kong by boat across the Pearl River estuary. The cornerstone of our policy in
dealing with this problem continues to be full
implementation of the Comprehensive Plan of Action which was
agreed internationally in the Geneva Conference of June
1989. The Plan provided for the maintenance of first
asylum, the screening of the new arrivals to determine their
status, the resettlement of those found to be refugees and the repatriation of all those found not to be refugees to
their homes in Vietnam.
20. In 1990, following efforts made in 1989 to encourage
departures and to discourage new arrivals, there was a
sharp drop in arrivals and a steady flow of departures through the resettlement and repatriation programmes. so there was a net reduction of only 3,688 in the Vietnamese population during the year. Hong Kong was still
Even
burdened with looking after the 52,036 Vietnamese who
remained there at the end of the year. It is imperative
that effective and durable solutions should be worked out
for these people so that they need not languish indefinitely in camps in the territory.
21. The resettlement programme for Vietnamese with
refugee status progressed satisfactorily during the year and
continued to meet the targets set by the Geneva
Conference. Coupled with the establishment of a new
Regional Resettlement Transit Centre in Bataan in the
Philippines for up to 5,000 refugees from Hong Kong there was a prospect of Hong Kong being able to close 2 of its 3 open centres for refugees and thus be left with a
refugee population of well under 5,000 by the end of 1991. This transfer arrangement was made possible by an agreement during the year between the British and Phillippines
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