Enclosure IV
RECENT BOAT REFUGEE ARRIVALS IN HONG KONG
1.
Since the meeting in Geneva (20-21 July) there has been a steady flow of refugees reaching Hong Kong by small boats: 6,412 on 76 boats with an average daily arrival rate of 107. These figures do not include refugees rescued at sea and brought to Hong Kong by ocean-going vessels.
Period
22-31 July :
1-31 August :
From South Vietnam
207 on 9 boats
597 on 18 boats
2.
1-14th September : Period
22-31 August :
1-31 August :
1-14th September :
669 on 10 boats
From North Vietnam
668 on 4 boats 2,522 on 15 boats 1,476 on 12 boats
All refugees from South Vietnam have been on small motorized boats often carrying only one extended family group. The great majority have been from ports in central Vietnam (especially Qui Nhon and Danang). There is no evidence yet of official involvement in the arrangements nor of departure fees being levied. A number of boats claim they were pursued and fired on by patrol boats. The last case in which Vietnamese official assistance has been established was a boat leaving in Ma Trang on 2 July. Over 90% of recent arrivals have been ethnic Vietnamese, compared with about 30% when boats were being made available by public security officials to the ethnic Chinese community.
3.
No boats have arrived from North Vietnam which admit leaving after the Geneva Conference. These are generally heavily overloaded sailing vessels which take at least 5 weeks to reach Hong Kong, and often longer if they stop for repairs and/or sheleter on the way. In two cases we have evidence that after being shipwrecked on the Chinese coast refugees were able to purchase another boat locally and continue their voyage to Hong Kong. Such boats usually call at Beihai in Guangzi Province.
4.
There has been evidence that some refugees claiming to come directly from Vietnam have in fact been resettled in China. Such refugees are kept segregated from others whilst their circumstances are investigated. issue has been raised with the Chinese Government which has said that it has _no_wish to add to Hong Kong's refugee problems and that all refugees who have-
left illegally after being resettled in China will be accepted back. In practice, however, the identification and return of such refugees is not easy, possibly because some refugees may give false identities for resettlement purposes which do not tally with records held in China. So far 75] which arrived in 14 boats have been returned. There is little evidence of normal Chinese illegal immigrants being able to leave on these boats. Such people are easy to identify and the few who have been found have always been returned without difficulty.
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