TNAG-1604-FCO40-2211-Future-of-Hong-Kong-annual-reports-to-Parliament-on-Hong-Kon-1988 — Page 6

4.

TNAMESE REFUGEES

- 7

The

Since 1975 a vast number of people have left Indo-China. reason is very simple. They have fled the Communist oppression. More than 1.5 million people have left their homes to seek sanctuary overseas and more than 1 million of them are Vietnamese. More than 35,000 Vietnamese await resettlement in refugee camps That is a human in the region and some 9,400 are in Hong Kong. tragedy of appalling proportions and one which only international action can resolve. The only comparable refugee problem is that of the Afghan refugees trying to escape from Communist oppression.

In July 1979 it was a British initiative that led to a conference in Geneva designed to tackle the worsening crisis of the boat people. It was agreed that group refugee status would be conferred on those leaving Indo-China by boat. That was an important step forward. Asylum would be offered by those countries where boat people first arrived to allow time to arrange resettlement in third countries. For years the British-initiated system worked

The rate of well taking the south-east Asian region as a whole. resettlement declined after 1980, but until recently it had more

The change than kept pace with the declining rate of arrivals. came this year.

While the pace of resettlement continued to decline, the rate of arrivals increased. Many are accepted as refugees in places of first asylum, but then not by other countries for resettlement. That is often because their motivation for leaving Vietnam is perceived with some justification to be economic rather than political. However, the implications of those people for the places of first asylum are obvious. The places of first asylum bear an increasingly heavy burden.

That trend

Hong Kong is only too aware of that. From 1979 until this year the number of Vietnamese refugees in camps in Hong Kong fell. However, the numbers are again on the increase. extends wider than Hong Kong. It is a regional problem that demands an international solution.

The root cause of the refugee problem in Indo-China lies in Hanoi. It lies in the repressive policies of a Government who maintain the fourth largest army in the world while continuing to devote their scarce resources to the military occupation of Cambodia and yet lamentably fail to porovide a decent life for their own people. That is a sad commentary on Communist priorities.

Successive British Governments have worked towards resettling Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong. Since 1975, we have accepted some 20,000 Indo-Chinese refugees, and nearly 13,000 of them were Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong. That is a substantial commitment which reflects our special responsibilities for the territory.

Conservative Research Department,

32 Smith Square, LONDON SW1

18.1.88

KS/LH