U.S. Pressure Blamed for Hong Kong Refugee Crush
HONG KONG — The United States is partly to blame for a huge influx of Vietnamese boat people into Hong Kong, a relief official said today.
Chris Bale, Hong Kong director of the British-based charity organization Oxfam, said Washington had applied pressure on Southeast Asian nations to provide asylum to boat people fleeing Vietnam but then failed to resettle enough of them in the United States.
Bale told a news conference that Washington must accept that eventual mandatory repatriation of many boat people to Vietnam is the only solution.
He said U.S. officials are telling Asians: “No, no, you can’t send them back to Vietnam because that’s a nasty Communist regime. But on the other hand, we’re not going to resettle them.”
He added, “They can’t have it both ways.”
Hong Kong has more than 41,000 boat people crowded into camps and detention centers and says it is no longer able to cope with the influx.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
