TNAG-1910-FCO40-2714-Financial-assistance-from-the-UK-Government-to-Vietnamese-re-1989 — Page 185

DSR 11C (Revised 5/87)

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

But the nature of the problem now is very different.

Top Secret

Secret

Confidential

Restricted

Unclassified

PRIVACY MARKING

First, there is no longer the reasonable expectation

that most of the arrivals seeking temporary asylum in

Hong Kong will leave quickly. From 1979-1982, some

Now

80,000 boat people were resettled from Hong Kong.

only a small percentage of the arrivals are likely to be

eligible for resettlement. For the rest, Hong Kong is

the end of the road.

In Confidence

Secondly, the financial burden on Hong Kong is now

formidable. The new screening policy means that all

arrivals have to be detained in closed centres requiring

a high degree of security and qualified staff to maintain

discipline and order. This involves considerable capital

and recurring expenditure. The Hong Kong Government have

already committed £60 million in the current financial

year (having spent £48 million last year). If arrivals

continue at the present rate, substantially more will be

needed.

Thirdly, and for reasons closely related to the

previous two, local attitudes to the problem have changed

for the worse. In 1979 there was a degree of local

sympathy for the boat people, many of whom were ethnic

Chinese escaping persecution in Vietnam.

Now there is

enormous resentment of the new arrivals, almost all of

whom are ethnic Vietnamese motivated not by a fear of

persecution but by a desire for a better standard of