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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
Mr J Scott Douglas
217 Bahama Lane
Palm Beach
Florida 33480
USA
Telephone 01-
TACT
132/€
REXT
REF.
Your reference
Our reference
Date
16 August 1976
136
The Prime Minister's Private Secretary has acknowledged your letter of 2 August. I am writing now to thank you for your letter of condolence to Mrs Ewart-Biggs - which has been passed to her - and to comment on the passage in your letter about refugees from Indo-China being denied admission to Hong Kong and elsewhere.
In Hong Kong's case, I assume you are referring to reports about some 90-odd Vietnamese refugees on board the Burmese-registered ship "MV Ava" which arrived off Hong Kong on 7 July. It is true that the Hong Kong authorities declined at first to allow these refugees to land, apart from three who were taken ashore for hospital treatment. There were good reasons for this decision. Over the past year or so the Hong Kong authorities have provided a temporary home, in some cases for up to 12 months, for about four thousand Vietnamese refugees who arrived by sea in the spring of 1975 in the immediate aftermath of the war in Vietnam. In addition, permission has been granted during the same period for about five thousand immigrants (in practice, refugees) from Vietnam to remain permanently in Hong Kong. Further, a very much larger number of illegal immigrants from other parts of Indo-China have been allowed to settle in Hong Kong. In short, Hong Kong is faced with serious immigration problems of its own.
You will appreciate that the absorption of large numbers of refugees and illegal immigrants has placed a great strain on the small and over-crowded territory of Hong Kong. (With a population of about 4 millions in an area of just over 400 square miles, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places in the world.) The Hong Kong authorities were concerned, therefore, that if they admitted the refugees aboard the "Ava" they would encourage many other persons from various parts of Indo-China to seek refuge in Hong Kong and that the territory could be turned into a "dumping ground" for Indo-Chinese refugees picked up at sea. A situation
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