TNAG-1068-FCO40-1318-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-in-the-UK-1981 — Page 27

June 1981

VIETNAM: MORE REFUGEES

The recent increase in the flow of refugees from Vietnam poses new problems of resettlement and

asylum.

DSR 11C

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The number of those leaving Vietnam clandestinely has

again been increasing since early 1981. In February, just

under 4000, and in March over 5000, reached Hong Kong, the

South-East Asian countries and Japan; in May more than

10,000 arrived. And, while on 1 January 1981 nearly 53,000

Vietnamese refugees were in the main countries of asylum

Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Macau,

Singapore and Japan, the figure on 1 May was still about

50,000. Some 30,000 new refugees had arrived in the

intervening period, but only about 25,000 had been

resettled. The arrival rate in Hong Kong in the first five

months of 1981 was double that of the same period of 1980.

With 16,000 still in camps in Hong Kong, the office of

(UNHCR)

the UN High Commission for Refugees (there reversed a decision

taken in April 1981 to cut its budget for 1981 and reduce

staff. Hong Kong has one of the highest population densities

in the world 4,852 people per square kilometre in 1980

and since 1970 the population has increased by nearly 30 per

cent to over five million. An influx of illegal immigrants

from China (177,000 in the two years 1979-80) has added to

the strain on the social services. About 100,000 Vietnamese

have arrived in Hong Kong since 1975.

Large numbers of ethnic Chinese were expelled from

Vietnam in 1978 and early 1979, and as economic conditions

there deteriorated increasing numbers of ethnic Vietnamese

left too. The government connived at their departure,

'exacting