The British Press has carried reports of Vietnamese passengers boarding ocean-going ships by prior arrangement, indicating an organised traffic. Under Hong Kong's amended legislation, penalties for carrying excess passengers have been raised and those aboard a ship are presumed to be passengers unless proved otherwise. A master claiming that his passengers are shipwreck victims will have to prove this.
A charge has been made against the master of the Huey Fong under the Merchant Shipping Ordinance for bringing more than the lawful number of passengers to Hong Kong. When the ship was 1,000 miles from Hong Kong on 18 December 1978, the master claimed by radio to the Hong Kong Marine Depart- ment that he had rescued a large number of refugees at sea off Vietnam. He was offered urgent supplies and medical attention if needed, but instructed to proceed to the nearest port and not Hong Kong. However, a week later he anchored outside Hong Kong waters and sailed into them on 19 January 1979, though he had been repeatedly told to proceed to his first scheduled port of call in Taiwan.
Police enquiries sought to establish whether there was any substance in his claim that he had rescued refugees during a close encounter at sea while his engine had broken down. When passengers disembarked, three families were found to be carrying about HK$1.5 million in thin gold leaf. During the search of the engine room police discovered thin gold leaf worth about HK$5 million. Two further common law conspiracy charges have been brought against the master and ten other persons, and further charges may be made. Investigations are being made into the voyage of the Skyluck, another ocean- going vessel, which arrived in Hong Kong without permission on 7 February 1979. The master claimed that 2,638 passengers on board were rescued at sea.
Refugees, many of them deprived of all their possessions, are leaving Vietnam on small or large boats for hazardous voyages to neighbouring countries which have no wish to receive them. The risks run by the boat refugees show clearly, as Lord Goronwy-Roberts said in the British Parliament on 14 February, that it is not poverty alone from which they are fleeing. The Minister at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office referred to the detention without trial of many Vietnamese and Laotians, the forced movement of people in Vietnam to new economic zones and restrictions on personal, political, religious and other freedoms.
International consultations
Solving the refugee problem demands a concerted international effort, and in mid-December representatives of 32 countries attended consultations in Geneva, held at the request of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Although some 5,000 additional resettlement places were pledged and additional financial contributions worth US$12 million were announced, available places still fell far short of the requirement.
Foreign Ministers of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), at a special meeting in Bangkok on 12-13 January 1979, reviewed the economic, social, political and security aspects of the influx of both refugees and illegal immigrants into their area. They stressed the importance of persuading a wider range of countries to offer permanent settlement opportunities. The Indonesian Foreign Minister announced subsequently that his government was considering making an island available for the temporary resettlement of Vietnamese refugees. He said that they would be given temporary shelter provided
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