Hong Kong's Vietnamese refugee problem began almost immediately after the fall of Saigon in 1975.
Tens of thousands of asylum seekers arrived in the city and tens of thousands more died at sea on the way. According to the government, no Vietnamese asylum seekers were turned away at the time.
By 1997, up to 223,000 Vietnamese had arrived in Hong Kong, which became home to about 16,000 of them. The rest either resettled overseas or were repatriated to Vietnam until the port of first asylum policy for Vietnamese was ended in January, 1998.
The handling and repatriation of the Vietnamese over the decades cost taxpayers an estimated $8.71 billion plus a further $1.16 billion that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is said to owe the government.
In 1988, the UNHCR signed a Statement of Understanding with the Hong Kong government, undertaking to 'continue to meet the costs of the care, maintenance and social services required by all asylum seekers ... subject to the availability of funds for this purpose'.
The Hong Kong government agreed to make 'advance payments' on behalf of the UNHCR to cover the cost of accommodation and basic daily needs of refugees.
In 1995, the UNHCR returned $19.5 million of the money and paid another $23 million the following year. The last payment made was $3.9 million five years ago, since when the body has repeatedly told the Hong Kong government it cannot afford to repay the entire sum.