SCR 1/46 SF A
SECRET 高度機密
Copy No, 2 of 24 copies
Page 1 of 3 pages
LIC HONG KONG
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
JUNE 1979
In June, the attitudes of ASEAN countries and Western nations have hardened against the Vietnamese Government's policy of exporting its unwanted citizens. ASEAN nations have stated they
will no longer accept 'boat people' whilst most Western nations, with the exception of Japan, have either stopped aid or diverted it to refugee relief. On the initiative of the British Government, the UN Secretary General is to hold an international conference on 20/21 July in Geneva to discuss the Vietnamese refugee problen. Vietnam has been invited to attend.
2.
We believe that the Vietnamese Government may by now have expelled some 270,000 ethnic Chinese from Northern Vietnam either to China, which says it has received 230,000, or to Hong Kong. The use of ethnic Chinese 'middlemen' in Southern Vietnam is reported to have been stopped and Chinese residents are instead registered by 'door-to-door' officials, and persuaded to pay the exit fee. This fee is being gradually reduced to enable more to leave; at the end of May it was believed that some 50,000 in HoChi Minh City had paid and were awaiting passages. It is estimated that about one million more refugees, including ethnic Vietnamese, will leave if the opportunity arises. Special refugee boats designed to carry up to 1,000 people are reported to be under construction as the supply of older boats dwindles. The evidence available in Hong Kong suggests that the over- whelming majority of those leaving for Hong Kong arrive alive; the large numbers said to be lost are likely to be among those taking the southern route to Malaysia, who have to cross a wide expanse of open sea and are the prey of Thai pirates.
3.
No large ships have arrived in Hong Kong or elsewhere since the SENG CHEONG beached on Lantao Island on 26 May. Of the two vessels known to have been waiting to collect refugees from HoChiMinh City in June, only one, the MINH HAI I, remains there. The other - MINH HAI II aliasSEAVIEW, a Taiwanese owned Panamian registered ship of 2,150 tons, our knowledge of which was made known to the Vietnamese Government, left HoChiMinh City without refugees sometime between 24 June and 1 July and its present whereabouts are unknown. Other suspect vessels believed to be involved in refugee trafficking whose whereabouts are also not known are the GOD PIONEER No. 1, UNITED FELLOW and SPEED PROSPER.
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SECRET #Z
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