TNAG-1425-FCO40-1908-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-general-1985 — Page 20

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REASONS FOR CLOSED CAMP POLICY

Doubts have been expressed as to whether HKG were justified in introducing closed camp policy. No doubt in my mind about this: figures speak for themselves. In July 1982, the month the policy was introduced, arrivals reached their highest level for three years. Resettlement possibilities were diminishing sharply. The HKG were faced with the prospect of the numbers in camps rising to unmanageable levels as they had done in 1979.

Important to understand why this was particularly alarming for Hong Kong. Hong Kong is one of the most crowded places in the world.

It

has a population of over 5 million in a territory of only 400 sq miles, much of it barren hillside and rocky islets. Its population density is 20 times that of the UK. It has acute problems, resulting from the large influx of immigrants from China in recent years. It continues to absorb large numbers of legal immigrants from China (27,700 in 1984). Illegal immigrants from China, however, are repatriated, even though they often have family and cultural ties with the people of Hong Kong. This is the context in which the people of Hong Kong see the Vietnamese problem. They therefore find it difficult to accept that the Vietnamese should be given what they regard as special treatment by being allowed to

remain in the territory while awaiting resettlement. The closed

camp policy was therefore introduced, and has been maintained, with

the full support of people of Hong Kong. They felt this was the only way to try to discourage Vietnamese from setting out for Hong

Kong.

Strength of Hong Kong feeling on this issue was demonstrated at

Adjournment Debate of Hong Kong Legislative Council on 15 May. Would like to quote from some of the speeches:

Mrs Selina Chow: "The closed camp policy

came into force in

July 1982..... Our treatment of Vietnamese refugees at the time was not in line with either policies of other Asian countries, most of which had been operating closed camps, or our own towards illegal immigrants from the north, whom, once we captured, we repatriated.

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