TNAG-0972-FCO40-1191-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-1980 — Page 152

Background

AKK 24314

RECEIVED IN KEGISTRY NO. 5]

Fact Sheet on Refugees from Vietnam in Hong KinkFEB 1980

DESK OFFICER INDEX

Refugee population at 1st February 1980 50

PA

REGISTRY

Action Tuken

Νο

J13:2 | AW141

Hong Kong, with a land area of only 1,045 sq kms (404 sq miles), much of which is unproductive hillside and barren islets, has a population of about 5 million. This is equivalent to an overall density of 4,784 persons per sq km, compared to densities of 3,921 in Singapore, 230 in the United Kingdom and 22 in the USA. In the urban areas where most of the population lives the density reaches 25,400 persons per sq km. In one district, Mongkok, there are about 144,000 persons per sq km, eight times that of Tokyo. 98% of the people of Hong Kong are ethnic Chinese. Hong Kong also copes with all the problems of absorbing large numbers of immigrants from China who enter both legally and illegally. In 1978 and 1979 there were about 280,000 such immigrants, representing an addition to the population of 5% in just 24 months.

Boat Refugee Arrivals and Resettlement

2.

The first boat refugees to arrive in Hong Kong were the 3,743 on board the Clara Maersk in May 1975. It took almost 3 years to resettle them. Meanwhile, refugees continued to arrive and the trickle of 1976 (191) and 1977 (1,001) turned into a flood in 1978 (6,609) and 1979. The rate at which they have been resettled abroad has been disappointingly slow (for detailed resettlement destinations see Appendix).

1975 - 1978

Arrived

11,544

Daily Average

Daily

Resettled

Average

8

6,150

4

1 Jan 21 July

64,910

321

5,701

28

1979

22 July

31 Dec

5,958

37

18,676

115

1979

January 1980

99

3

2,662

$86

Total 1975 -

82,511

33,189

31 Jan 1980

3.

All refugees on small boats have been given asylum in Hong Kong: none have been turned away or fired upon. The number of refugees in Hong Kong at 1st February 1980 was 50,393. This figure takes into account births and deaths amongst the refugee population while waiting in Hong Kong for resettlement offers (1,328 births and 312 deaths reported since 1 January 1979).

/Patterns