Dear Jack.
322
HKK 243/
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
19 JAN 1979
No
Jalz
$19
:
Thank you for your letter of 15 January about the problem of the
Vietnamese refugees on board the Huey Fong which has been anchored just outside Hong Kong waters since 23 December. Although we were able to
have a word about this on Wednesday, I thought it might be helpful if I
answered your points in writing as well as those you raised under
Standing Order No.9, and at the same time passed on the latest information I have. You have I know been concerned about this since your visit to Hong Kong and I share your concern.
*
As you know from your recent visit, Hong Kong is a very small and overcrowded territory. Its population has more than trebled since the Second World War and is continuing to grow at a worrying rate: last year alone something like 100,000 people arrived legally and illegally from China.
+
The Hong Kong Government have nevertheless adopted a generous and
humane attitude towards refugees from Vietnam. They have consistently
followed the principle that ship-wrecked survivors rescued by ocean-going vessels should be landed at the first scheduled port of call. This
principle has also been applied to refugees arriving in their own small
boats or rescued by local fishing vessels. In line with this policy
5,172 small boat refugees were allowed to land in Hong Kong in 1978.
2,108 of these have so far been resettled elsewhere. A further 1,110
ré ugees have arrived in the first two weeks of this month.
Only
The arrival of the Huey Fong created a very difficult problem for
the Hong Kong Government. Hong Kong was not the ship's first port of call. While still 1,000 miles from Hong Kong (and about the same distance from Taiwan) the master was warned that he would not be allowed to enter Hong Kong and should proceed to his original destination Kaohsiung in Taiwan.
ignored this message, and the many efforts to persuade him to sail for Taiwan since the Huey Fong's arrival off Hong Kong have all failed.
He
Jack Ashley Esq CH MP
/The
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