XN000022-1988-06-15 — Page 3

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 1988

CS EXPLAINS REASONS FOR POLICY CHANGE ON BOAT PEOPLE

THE TIME HAS COME FOR HONG KONG TO CHANGE ITS POLICY OF AUTOMATICALLY ACCEPTING AS REFUGEES ALL BOAT PEOPLE WHO AFRIVE FROM VIETNAM, THE CHIEF SECRETARY, SIR DAVID FORD, LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TODAY (WEDNESDAY).

HERE

TOLD

THE

IN A STATEMENT TO THE COUNCIL, SIR DAVID STRESSED THIS WAS A DECISION WHICH WAS TAKEN LIGHTLY.

NOT

"THE MASSIVE INFLUX OF BOAT PEOPLE FROM VIETNAM OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS HAS CAUSED THE GOVERNMENT AND THE COMMUNITY OF HONG KONG GRAVE CONCERN," SIR DAVID EXPLAINED.

"COMING AS IT DOES AFTER TWO YEARS OF A STEADY INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE ARRIVING AND A DRASTIC REDUCTION IN THE NUMBER OF RESETTLEMENT PLACES ON OFFER, IT HAS CREATED AN INTOLERABLE BURDEN THIS ALREADY OVERCROWDED TERRITORY."

Į

ON

BY

IN 1987 THE NUMBER OF BOAT PEOPLE COMING TO HONG KONG ROSE 65 PER CENT AND THOSE LEAVING TO BE RESETTLED DROPPED BY 42 PER CENT.

MORE THAN 5,000 PEOPLE HAVE ARRIVED IN HONG KONG DURING THE FIRST FIVE MONTHS OF 1988 AND A FURTHER 2,621 HAD ARRIVED JUNE.

SO FAR IN

"ALL BUT A HANDFUL OF THESE PEOPLE ARE ETHNIC VIETNAMESE AND MORE THAN 70 PER CENT COME FROM NORTH VIETNAM AND HAVE NO CONNECTIONS OR FAMILY LINKS OUTSIDE VIETNAM," SIR DAVID SAID.

"THEIR PROSPECTS FOR RESETTLEMENT CURRENT CRITERIA ARE NEGLIGIBLE.

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IN THIRD COUNTRIES UNDER

+

THE ARRIVALS HAD SWELLED HONG 16,000 A FIGURE HIGHER THAN AT ANY STRETCHING LOCAL RESOURCES FOR THEIR CARE TO THE LIMIT, HE SAID.

KONG'S REFUGEE POPULATION ΤΟ TIME SINCE 1980

AND WERF RECEPTION, ACCOMMODATION, AND

"RESETTLEMENT PLACES TO MATCH THE CURRENT ARRIVAL RATES OF BOAT PEOPLE IN HONG KONG, OR ELSEWHERE IN THIS REGION, ARE SIMPLY NO LONGER AVAILABLE," SIR DAVID NOTED.

"THE MAJOR RESETTLEMENT COUNTRIES ARE INCREASINGLY

UNWILLING

TO ACCEPT THESE PEOPLE, PARTICULARLY ETHNIC

VIETNAM, AS REFUGEES FOR RESETTLEMENT PURPOSES.

VIETNAMESE FROM NORTH

SIR DAVID SAID IT WAS WIDELY BELIEVED THAT A LARGE PROPORTION OF THE VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE, PARTICULARLY THOSE ARRIVING IN HONG KONG, WERE NOT REFUGEES.

/THEY WERE