TNAG-1419-FCO40-1902-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-Sub-Committee-on-Race-Relations-and--1985 — Page 127

result Hong Kong, which already has the largest number

of boat people awaiting resettlement in South East Asia (and has done so for three years), would have to

shoulder an even larger share of

When the burden.

additonal factors such as the territory's extreme

population density

the continuing burden of legal

immigration from China are taken into

is understandable that local Hong Kong

strongly resent such a measure.

and illegal

account, it

people would

conclusion is

HMG's

that present circumstances do not make

it possible to accept the Select Committee's recommendation that the closed camp policy be ended.

CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH THE FCO WOULD WITHDRAW

ITS SANCTION FROM THE CLOSED CAMP POLICY

5.

It has never been either HMG's ог the Hong Kong

Government's intention that the closed camps should be

a permanent feature of Hong Kong's refugee policy. The Hong Kong Government have always made clear that

the policy is a temporary measure: if the flow of illegal departures from Vietnam were to be reduced to a trickle, such deterrent measures would not longer be

necessary. The sooner this happens the better pleased HMG and Hong Kong will be. However the factors which

determine the rate of departures are beyond the

control of Her Majesty's Government ог the Hong Kong Government, and depend on developments within Vietnam.

This is the root of the problem. As long as the

social and economic conditions imposed by the Hanoi

Government mak e life within Vietnam intolerable for

large numbers

of people, they will continue to be

attracted by the prospect of life in the west. Without some policy of deterrence, Hong Kong will

to be viewed as a convenient gateway to the

if the west will not take those leaving

resettlement goal in itself.

continue

or,

west:

Vietnam,

as a