Refugee tide hits Hong Kong
In June 1979, in the humid misery of the old government dockyard in Canton Road, Yau Ma Tei, close to glittering five-star hotels and swanky shopping malls, huddled 10,353 Vietnamese. They were the lucky ones.
Out on the South China Sea, at least 250,000 boat people were believed to have died in the great forced exodus from Vietnam. After the brief and bloody war between Vietnam and China in February and March 1979, the regime in Hanoi began the brutal expulsion of ethnic Chinese, including those who had lived in Vietnam for generations.
Forced out to sea in flimsy boats, the Chinese drowned or were butchered by Thai fishermen turned pirates. There were horrifying stories of overcrowded boats stopped by pirates, of girls being dragged from the arms of their parents, who were then slain, and of raped and abused women being thrown overboard when their captors tired of them.
Among the first ships to arrive here were the Huey Fong with 3,318 refugees, and the Skyluck with 2,664. At first, official policy had been to turn the boat people away. Refused entry, the Skyluck passengers began a six-day hunger strike, then cut their anchor chain to allow the vessel to run aground on Lamma Island. Attitudes softened, and for those who survived the open ocean, Hong Kong became the sole port that would let them land. Malaysia threatened to tow them out to sea. Singapore refused them entry. By June 12, 1979, there were 51,785 Vietnamese in Hong Kong camps. And they kept coming. Most arrived in small fishing boats; others came in ships operated by criminal gangs.
The Vietnamese tragedy dragged on until the late 1990s, China having demanded Britain solve the problem before the 1997 handover. A policy of voluntary repatriation saw many refugees go back to Hanoi on special flights; 11,793 returned in 1991. But more than 50,000 remained in vastly expensive camps paid for by Hong Kong; the United Nations still owes Hong Kong $1.2 billion for their care.
Stubborn Vietnamese classified as non-refugees refused to return. The world saw television pictures of them being dragged onto aircraft; instead of thanks for its decades of caring for tens of thousands of refugees, Hong Kong was portrayed as a heartless society.
