TNAG-1800-FCO40-2560-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-principle-of-first-asylum-1988 — Page 140

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Handed to sups 47 Sys 41 in chung King

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A statement on the issue of "Vietnamese Refugees

made by Members of the Southern District Board

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Vietnamese Refugees continue to flood in since Hong Kong adopted the

policy of being a port of first asylum in 1975. Up to this financial year,

there are about 13,000 "Vietnamese Refugees" stuck in Hong Kong. Albeit

the Hong Kong Government implemented the closed centre policy in 1982, the

influx of Vietnamese continues. In shorter than a month in May 1988, the

number of people flooding in from Vietnam has exceeded 2,000. It is

expected that in the coming few months the number of influx of people

from Vietnam will continue to increase.

Since 1979 the combination of "Vietnamese Refugees" arriving Hong Kong

has changed greatly. The survey conducted in 1987 indicates that 60% of

Vietnamese arrivals from the sea left their homeland for economic reasons.

On the other hand, the speed of accepting the Vietnamese Refugees for

resettlement by the western countries has already been very slow and in

the recent years, coming to a stand still. In addition, the anti-immigration

trend engaged in other countries has given rise to the chance of resettling

these "Vietnamese Refugees" overseas becomes more and more slim.

Since 1979 Hong Kong Government has spent over 900 million dollars on

the refugees problem. In the year 1986/87 alone, Government had spent

120 million dollars. Now, the issue of "Vietnamese Refugees" becomes a

heavy bruden to the people of Hong Kong and will definitely affect the

stability and prosperity of Hong Kong. We consider now has reached the

stage that the policy on Vietnamese Refugees should be reviewed. We

therefore propose that:-

(1) the policy of Hong Kong being a port of first asylum should be

abolished; henceforth Vietnamese arrivals will no longer be

"Refugees" but "Illegal Immigrants"; and they should be

repatriated back to their homeland in due course;