TNAG-0897-FCO40-1107-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 133

723

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2

3.

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or State farmi. They deci ed ines life in China yos litul- Lotten than the Life thy had left in Vietnam and have come to Hong Kong by bouts bought in China, posing as refugecs guiling direct from Vietnam (approxima vcly 47°);

and

(e) ethnic Chinese who left Northern Vietnam before the

moretorius by boat but vero cither shipwrecked on the Chinese coast or had their boats barly damaged. They pooled resources with similar groups and accepted additional ethnic Chinese who had been resettled in China in exchange for food and money to buy a new boat or repair their own. In at least one instance, illegal immigrants also joined a boat (approximately 12%).

Refugees from Southern Vietnam state that living conditions there are deteriorating day-by-day with food shortages, transport difficulties, and little fishing done because of a lack of boats. They also reported a policy change on 1 August as a result of which all property has been nationalised, communes have been organised for people in the toms and former officials and soldiers of the pre-1975 regine have been banished to New Economic Zones. The Vietnamese Government stopped registering ethnic Chinose in the south for departure by boat in mid-June, Those who were not able to leave before the moratorium was announced have had their registration fees (which they paid in gold) refunded in Dong and have been told to await a further call. A number of the ethnic Chinese, who may total three quarters of a million in the south, are believed to be in staging camps near Ho Chi Minh City. Public Security officials have strictly enforced the moratorium and offer rewards for information concerning ethnic Chinese trying to escape. Informants are given thirty per cent of the value of the boat and its goods on board, both of which are confiscated. Ethnic Vietnamese seem to be able to bribe minor officials more easily and escape clandestinely.

4.

Since mid-July, a number of merchant ships, 'mercy' vessels or ships of the US Seventh Fleet have rescued 'shipwrecked refugees off the coast of Southern Vietnam and of these, tro merchant ships ANNI. MADREK and SEROOSKERK have brought refugees to Hong Kong to be landed, pending guaranteed resettlement abroad. Another, the RUDDBANK, sailed for Shanghai without direnbarking her refugees. Others have taken refugace to Singapore or Bangkok.

;

These refugees have

/stated

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