TNAG-1755-FCO40-2475-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-debates-1988 — Page 41

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Soviet economic model in the Third World. The consequence of this failure has been a tragic exodus of Vietnamese citizens who have had to endure hazardous sea journeys and protracted stays in camps in the region, including in Hong Kong. Moreover in the past year the flow has increased dramatically.

Hong Kong has a fine record as a place of temporary refuge for over 130,000 boat people, of whom some 13,000 have settled in Britain.

But by June of this year it had become clear that the majority of new arrivals were not political refugees fleeing from persecution, but rather people in search of a better standard of living overseas. The future for such people must lie in their own country. The

Vietnamese acknowledge this.

This was the background to the policy introduced by the Hong Kong Government of screening new arrivals to distinguish genuine refugees from the rest. I wish to make it clear that no boat people will be turned away and all genuine refugees will continue to have access to resettlement overseas. No one who does not qualify as a refugee will be sent back until satisfactory arrangements can be made for

their proper treatment on return. Let me assure your Lordships'

House that we would send no-one back unless we were satisfied that

they would not be ill-treated or punished. The Vietnamese

authorities are co-operating with us and with the UN High

Commissioner for Refugees and already around 400 Vietnamese boat

people in Hong Kong have asked to return home.

My Lords, let me also here say a word about our efforts to ensure that the interests of the people of Hong Kong are fully reflected in the drafting of China's Basic Law for the future Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Noble Lords will recall that views expressed in the common the first draft during the consultation period were reflected in debates in your Lordships' House and in another place.

We have ensured that the Chinese authorities are aware of all these concerns, and of course mainland members of the Basic Law Drafting Committee have had the opportunity to hear them at first hand during

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