TNAG-1788-FCO40-2548-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-general-1988 — Page 65

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VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE IN HONG KONG

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I share Bernard Levin's concern about the plight of the Vietnamese But I cannot accept his analysis of the boat people in Hong Kong. problem nor his unwarranted attack on the way in which the Government are tackling it.

The overwhelming majority of boat people arriving in Hong Kong are not refugees in the internationally accepted sense of the term; they are not escaping from political or religious persecution; and they In common with large number of are not in fear of their lives. their compatriots in Vietnam, they are the unfortunate victims of

But economic hardship that country's wretched economic predicament. alone is not a qualification for refugees status.

Contrary to what Bernard Levin implies, there is nothing arbitrary or mysterious about the screening procedures introduced by the Hong

They are on the basis of well Kong authorities earlier this year. established international criteria and have been fully endorsed by the UNHCR, who are also involved in monitoring them. screening is to distinguish genuine refugees from those whose motivation is purely economic and whose prospects of resettlement in the West are non-existent.

The purpose of

It is surely right to seek to make satisfactory arrangements for the return to Vietnam of those who have no hope of a new life in the West. The alternative would be to condemn such people to indefinite detention in Hong Kong, an infinitely more cruel and inhumane fate.

Some 300 boat people have already elected to return.

Bernard Levin

is quite wrong to suggest that they have been brought to make this

They took their decision decision by any form of inducement.

The UNHCR, who will be

independently and of their own free will.

responsible for arranging their return to Vietnam, will however be providing modest assistance to facilitate their reintegration into Vietnamese society.