TNAG-1419-FCO40-1902-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-Sub-Committee-on-Race-Relations-and--1985 — Page 178

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REASON FOR INTRODUCTION OF POLICY

THE

2. THE REPORT CORRECTLY STATES THAT 'THE CLOSED CAMPS WERE

INTRODUCED IN JULY 1982 AS A POLICY OF 'HUMANE DETERRENCE' TO

DISCOURAGE OTHER VIETNAMESE FROM COMING TO HONG KONG' (PARA 20).

THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT AND HMG FELT THAT SOME KIND OF DETERRENT

WAS NECESSARY BECAUSE ALTHOUGH THE RATE AT WHICH REFUGEES WERE

ARRIVING IN HONG KONG HAD STABILISED CONSIDERABLY SINCE THE

INITIAL INFLUX IN 1979, THE RATE AT WHICH REFUGEES FROM HONG KONG

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.

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 VIETMAN.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

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