DELPATCH FROM HONG KONG
BY PATRICIA PEIN
JY, 18 JANUARY 1979
FN TEL CALL 1600
HUEY FONG REFUGEEC
WRUA 0015.
XM 03 185
1.U.
CUE:
The Hong Kong Government has told the Captain of the refugee ship the HUEY LONG and a Vietnamese refugee representative that the ship should proceed to Taiwan as scheduled and that provisioning of the vessel by the Hong Kong Government cannot continue indefinitely. But it also assured the Captain that if he decided to enter Hong Kong waters he would not be prevented from doing so. Patricia Penn in Hong Kong:
The surprise announcement coincides with a drop in temperature in Hong Kong and public concern for the health of the refugees. It also follows emergency legislation designed to deter other refugee ships. The Captain of the HUEY FONG has been warned that he is subject to
Tiong Kong law, which now means for example a possible maximum prison centence of four years for carrying excess passengers, plus a maximum one-thousand pounds fine, plus an additional five-hundred pound fine per head for every excess passenger carried. New legislation also allows possible confiscation of vessels contravening
Hong Kong port regulations. The ship's master tonight signalled port control in Hong Kong that before taking a decision on the Hong Kong options, the refugees wish to await a reply from Taiwan
to a cable that they had sent to the authorities there this morning, before the Hong Kong Government made its offer. It's assumed that the refugees have asked if the Taiwan authorities would admit them. Officials here in Hong Kong say that the refugees had indicated earlier in the week that they would not proceed to Taivan unless they were guaranteed acceptance, One puzzle here is why the Hong Kong Government did not withhold its own offer until Taiwan had reacted to the refugees' cable. Asked about this a Government spokesman said that news agency reports today indicated that the Taiwan answer would still be in the negative.
Hong Kong officials arc reported to be somewhat divided as to whether they've made the right decision on the refugees, especially since it was believed that the Teiwa.ese might be re-considering: their policy towards them. But it's alsu pointed out that if the ship had decided to enter Hong Kong at any time in the past month, force would never have been used to prevent her doing so.
Meanwhile the refugees' present delay in replying to the Hong Kong Government is taken to mean that they may themselves be divided on
whether or not to accept the Hong Kong offer.
Patricia Penn in Hong Kong.
ENDS rp/BUDA DIU/1920
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