TNAG-0892-FCO40-1102-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 83

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Indo-Chinese Refugees

28 JUNE 1979

The Governments of the countries round the South China Sea, especially those who have already experienced diffi- culties over the racial balance of their populations and the

the assimilation of Chinese ethnic minorities, are becoming desperate in the face of the enormous number of Indo-Chinese refugees, mostly destitute, arriving on their doorsteps. It is vital that they should be reassured and that a credible resettlement programme should be mounted in the very near future.

I am sure that the whole House was deeply impressed by the rapidity with which my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister took the initiative at the end of May in appealing to the United Nations to arrange an international meeting to agree practical measures by the inter- national community. Similarly, the state- ment by the EEC Council of Ministers on 18 June and the ensuing representations to the Vietnamese and ASEAN Govern- ments have been helpful steps in the right

direction.

However, of the 85 signatories to the 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1967) protocol on the treatment of refugees, only two are Asian, and both West Asian countries. The behaviour of the States located round the South China Sea is therefore not governed by the Conven- tion. The United Nations High Com- missioner for Refugees, who, among other tasks, pays for refugee camps and underwrites the cost of transportation from the country of first asylum to the country of resettlement, has been operat- ing in conditions of great difficulty, par- ticularly in the sensitive matter of the protection of refugees, as has the Save the Children Fund, which not only raises substantial sums of money but provides medical and nutritional care for Indo- Chinese refugee children in camps. I am sure that the House wishes to pay tribute to its work.

In Hong Kong the flow of immigrants from Vietnam has coincided with one of the periodic build-ups in the flow of immigrants from China which historic- ally have coincided, as after the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolu- tion, with periods of liberalisation. So far this year Hong Kong has admitted over 100,000 refugees, about half of them from Indo-China, and is projecting for the year a figure in excess of 200,000 The recent reinforcements provided by

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Indo-Chinese Refugees

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this country have helped to stem the flow of illegal immigrants from China into Hong Kong. It is hoped that the Gov- ernment of the People's Republic will respond to appeals to help stem the ille- gal exodus from Kwantung.

No praise is too high for the response of the Hong Kong Government and the people of Hong Kong to the enormous new burdens that have been placed upon them. A few weeks ago there was no accommodation for refugees. Now nearly 60,000 are being looked after, al- beit in basic conditions. The authorities are conducting a race against time prior to the breaking of the typhoon season to provide accommodation for the antici- pated numbers.

The very creditable record of the United Kingdom, which I believe pro- vides 8 per cent. of the cost of the total United Nations refugee programme, considers that Hong Kong has already is put into a stark context when one

spent twice that amount in the first five months of this year.

Pressure on the colony, which is one of the most densely populated places on earth, is now intense, and its alleviation is a matter of the greatest urgency. As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said, the Indo-Chinese refugees are not a specifically British problem; they are a world problem. The Governments of the world face two important and sensi- tive tasks which represent an immense test of their political will and political courage.

The first task is to reassure their own people that an admission, or a greater admission, of Indo-Chinese refugees will not compound the problems already ex- perienced in areas with high concentra- tions of foreign immigrants and ethnic minorities. There are few countries where additional immigration is an auto- matic vote winner. The second task, however distasteful it may be to appear to submit to political blackmail by the barbarous cynicism of the Vietnamese Government, is to make a firm commit- ment at an early date to accept a specific number of refugees for permanent re- settlement.

The practical problems are immense, but if a large number of countries co- operate the number of refugees needed to be accommodated by each participating

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