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GEMINI
NEWS
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HKK 243 DAJ10.9
GAS 294
ASIA COLUMN
WE WANT TO GO TO THE US, SAY BOAT PEOPLE
Despite official Vietnamese assurances made at the recent Geneva conference that the flow of refugees from Vietnam would be stemmed, there are fears that this may not be possible. A Gemini News Service Asia correspondent who has been talking to some of the 67,000 Vietnamese already in Hongkong reports that a lot of them fled from their country because they did not like life under the communists and wanted to get to the United States.
BY BRIAN MAURICE
HONGKONG
950 words approx
Scattered throughout the crowded British colony of Hongkong are some 14 refugee camps which at present are providing a temporary home to some 67,000 of Vietnam's boat people.
Conditions although not good are considerably better than those in similar camps elsewhere in Eastern Asia.
Despite a recent United Nations announcement that they will meet in full the cost of running all the Hongkong camps, there are fears that the refugees will continue to arrive in the colony and their numbers could possibly increase.
In part, the colony's better treatment of the arrivals may prove an attraction.
Privately, some Hongkong officials are critical of the United States decision to allow the Sixth Fleet to search for and pick up, any refugees who may have ventured out into the South China Sea.
The fear is that this may encourage more people to take the risk of such a journey knowing that if they are picked up not only will they have "jumped the queue" of those currently awaiting resettlement in Honakona, but they also would have guaranteed themselves the opportunity of a new life in the United States.
Further, those refugees who might not be spotted by the US Navy could well be carried on by the prevailing winds to swell the already crowded camps in Hongkong.
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