TNAG-1418-FCO40-1901-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-Sub-Committee-on-Race-Relations-and--1985 — Page 93

RESTRICTED

21548

1

WERE BEING ACCEPTED FOR RESETTLEMENT OVERSEAS WAS FALLING

SHARPLY. HONG KONG WAS THEREFORE FACED WITH THE PROSPECT OF ITS

CAMP POPULATION RISING AGAIN TO THE LEVELS OF 1979/80, WITHOUT

ANY PROSPECT OF A CORRESPONDING INCREASE IN RESETTLEMENT. THE

RESULTANT SITUATION WOULD RAPIDLY HAVE BECOME UNMANAGEABLE.

SINCE A REFUSAL TO ALLOW REFUGEE BOATS TO ENTER HONG KONG WAS AND

IS CONSIDERED UNACCEPTABLE FOR HUMANITARIAN REASONS, THE CLOSED

CAMP POLICY WAS THE MOST HUMANE MEASURE OF DETERRENCE THAT WAS

AVAILABLE TO THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT. THERE WAS STRONG PUBLIC

PRESSURE IN HONG KONG TO INTRODUCE SUCH A POLICY FOR SEVERAL

REASONS: SIMILAR POLICIES HAD ALREADY BEEN ADOPTED BY OTHER

PLACES OF ASYLUM IN THE REGION (IN SOME CASES SINCE 1979): HONG

KONG ALREADY EXPERIENCED ACUTE PROBLEMS AS A RESULT OF THE LARGE

INFLUX OF IMMIGRANTS FROM CHINA IN RECENT YEARS AND THE PUBLIC

WERE ALARMED AT THE PROSPECT OF HONG KONG GIVING SHELTER

INDEFINITELY TO INCREASING NUMBERS OF VIETNAMESE: THEY OBJECTED

TO THE FACT THAT THERE WAS AN 'OPEN DOOR' POLICY TOWARDS THE

VIETNAMESE WHILE CHINESE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WITH WHOM THEY HAD

CLOSE CULTURAL, AND OFTEN FAMILY TIES WERE AS A MATTER OF

GOVERNMENT POLICY REPATRIATED TO CHINA (SINCE LATE 1979 ETHNIC

VIETNAMESE, WITH NO CULTURAL OR OTHER LINKS WITH HONG KONG, HAVE

COMPRISED 98 PERCENT OF ALL ARRIVALS IN THE COLONY FROM VIETNAM).

THEY DID NOT SEE WHY THE VIETNAMESE SHOULD BE GIVEN SPECIAL

TREATMENT, ESPECIALLY SINCE TO AN INCREASING EXTENT THEIR PRIMARY

MOTIVATION FOR LEAVING THEIR COUNTRY, LIKE THAT OF CHINESE

IMMIGRANTS SEEMED TO BE ECONOMIC RATHER THAN POLITICAL.

EFFECTIVENESS OF THE POLICY

3. IN HIS ORAL EVIDENCE TO THE SUB-COMMITTEE MR LUCE PROVIDED

STATISTICS OF REFUGEE ARRIVALS FOR HONG KONG AND FOR THE SOUTH

EAST ASIA REGION AS A WHOLE WHICH DEMONSTRATE CLEARLY THAT THE

HONG KONG ARRIVAL RATE HAS DECREASED CONSIDERABLY MORE SHARPLY

THAN THAT OFTHE REGION SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CLOSED CAMP

POLICY. (Q 223) IN OTHER RESPECTS HONG KONG IS AN ATTRACTIVE

PLACE FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS: IT IS GENERALLY RECOGNISED THAT THE

MATERIAL CONDITIONS IN HONG KONG'S CAMPS, INCLUDING THE CLOSED

CAMPS, ARE BETTER THAN THOSE OF MOST OTHER COUNTRIES OF THE

2

RESTRICTED