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MONDAY, MARCH 23, 1992
I
BECAUSE
I DON'T WANT TO BOMBARD YOU WITH TOO MANY STATISTICS DON'T HAVE A WRITTEN SPEECH SO YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER WHAT I AM SAYING, OR TAKE NOTES OF IT - BUT JUST TAKE A FEW STATISTICS. NOT ONLY ARE WE NOW ABOVE THE 5,000 BARRIER BUT SINCE DECEMBER OF LAST YEAR, OUR MARKET HAS GONE UP BY SOME 17% AND YOU CAN COMPARE THAT WITH TOKYO WHICH IS DOWN ABOUT NINE-AND-A-HALF PERCENT, LONDON WHICH IS UP ONLY JUST OVER ONE PERCENT, AND NEW YORK WHICH IS UP BY SOMETHING LIKE THREE-AND-A-HALF PERCENT. SO NOT ONLY HAVE WE RECOVERED FROM WE'VE PUT THE MECHANISMS INTO PLACE AND FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS SOME OF THOSE I WILL COME ON TO OUR MARKET IS DOING EXTREMELY WELL.
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1987,
AND
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OR TAKE ANOTHER ONE, SOMETHING WHICH HAS BEEN VERY MUCH ON MY MIND FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS, AND INDEED WAS VERY MUCH ON MY MIND WHEN I WAS HERE IN AN EARLIER JOB AS POLITICAL ADVISER IN THE LATE 1970'S AND THE EARLY 1980'S, THE PROBLEM OF VIETNAMESE MIGRANTS, PEOPLE ARRIVING HERE FROM VIETNAM BY BOAT AND BY LAND.
WE HAVE HAD A HUGE CRISIS ON THAT PROBLEM SINCE I'VE BEEN HERE. THINK BACK TO 1989 WHEN OVER 34,000 PEOPLE ARRIVED HERE, OR THINK BACK JUST TO 1991 WHEN OVER 20,000 PEOPLE ARRIVED, WELL NOW, WE HAVEN'T SOLVED THE PROBLEM BUT WE ARE MAKING SOME PROGRESS IN DEALING WITH IT. WE HAVE AN ARRANGEMENT FOR SENDING BACK TO VIETNAM PEOPLE WHO VOLUNTEER AND THERE IS SOMETHING LIKE OVER 16,000 OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALREADY GONE BACK AND, WHO ARE MONITORED WHEN THEY GO BACK. WE'VE GOT IN PLACE AN ARRANGEMENT FOR RETURNING PEOPLE WHO HAVE ARRIVED HERE RECENTLY. A QUICK TURN-ROUND ARRANGEMENT FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE FOUND NOT TO BE REFUGEES AND WE ARE TRYING TO GET IN PLACE ARRANGEMENTS FOR SENDING THEM BACK TO THEIR HOMES IN VIETNAM IF THEY ARE NOT REFUGEES, AND I EMPHASIS THAT POINT, PEOPLE WHO ARRIVED HERE BEFORE OCTOBER OF LAST YEAR.
PROBLEM,
NOW THE RESULTS OF THAT, IT DOESN'T TOTALLY SOLVE THE WE STILL HAVE FAR TOO MANY PEOPLE IN OUR CAMPS, FAR TOO MANY YOUNG PEOPLE, CHILDREN WHO SPENT YEARS IN THOSE CAMPS WHICH IS SOMETHING WHICH I TREAT AS A HORRIFYING PHENOMENON, I WOULD MUCH RATHER SEE THOSE PEOPLE BACK IN THEIR OWN HOMES IN VIETNAM. BUT WHAT IS THE RESULT OF THAT? THIS YEAR, SO FAR, WE HAVE PRECISELY SEVEN PEOPLE ARRIVING HERE FROM VIETNAM, AT THE SAME TIME, WE HAVE ALREADY RETURNED 2,500 VOLUNTEERS TO VIETNAM. SO THERE IS A HUGE PROBLEM WHICH HAS BEEN BEDEVILING US FOR YEARS, WHICH WE ARE NOW MAKING SOME PROGRESS IN SOLVING.
OR TAKE ANOTHER ONE, 1989 WHICH WAS A CRISIS PERIOD, A CRISIS IN CHINA AND A CRISIS FOR US HERE IN HONG KONG. CONFIDENCE WAS VERY BADLY KIT BY THE EVENTS OF MAY AND OF JUNE AND HONG KONG WAS MORE GLOOMY DURING THAT PERIOD OF TIME THAN ANY TIME I CAN REMEMBER IN MY OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE BEFORE THAT. LINKS WITH CHINA AND OTHER COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD WERE SUSPENDED. OUR OWN RELATIONS WERE VERY DIFFICULT, WE DIDN'T SUSPEND CONTACTS BUT THOSE CONTACTS THAT WE HAD WERE VERY DIFFICULT TO MANAGE AND THERE WAS A CONFIDENCE CRISIS HERE AND THERE WAS IMMENSE MISTRUST BUILDING UP ON BOTH SIDES.
/NOW TAKE