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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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122589
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12258900.027
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1990-09-22
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WORLD, Page 26REFUGEESDashing Their DreamsBritain begins the forced repatriation of the boat people
They had reached safe harbor on a sail and a prayer. In the
past 21 months alone, more than 40,000 Vietnamese boat people
pitched their way across the South China Sea to Hong Kong, mostly
in rickety, open vessels. Last week 51 of them -- eight men, 17
women and 26 children -- learned they had risked their lives for
nothing. Awakened at 3 a.m. at the Phoenix House refugee detention
center in Kowloon, they were asked to gather their belongings, then
herded into trucks by government personnel, some equipped with
batons and shields. From there they were taken to Kai Tak Airport
and put aboard a jet. Destination: Hanoi.
The 51 were the first installment of what Britain has announced
will be a mass forced repatriation of Vietnamese boat people. Those
who are to be expelled from the crown colony -- the number could
exceed 40,000 -- fail to qualify as political refugees (as opposed
to economic migrants) and are therefore considered illegal
immigrants. Under an agreement between London and Hanoi, Britain
will pay Viet Nam some $620 for each returning boat person in
exchange for the promise that the returnees will not be persecuted.
The predawn scheduling of the operation was meant to minimize
publicity and protests. But reporters got wind of it and watched
through the windows of Phoenix House as Vietnamese shouted and
cried, some holding up makeshift signs saying WE'D RATHER DIE THAN
GO BACK TO VIET NAM. No force appeared to be used.
"Everyone was calm and went quietly," announced a Hong Kong
government spokesman. But within 48 hours, more than 6,000
Vietnamese boat people expressed their outrage in protests at three
Hong Kong detention centers.
In Washington, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater denounced
the policy as "unacceptable until conditions in Viet Nam improve."
In London, opposition Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock assailed the
move as a "shameful episode," accusing Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher of acting "tyrannically." Thatcher denounced Kinnock's
criticism as "feeble and nonsense" and, in a swipe at the U.S.,
noted acidly that "those countries protesting about repatriation
would do far better to take some of the boat people themselves."
While the U.S., Canada, Australia and France have all taken many
boat people in the past, none have offered shelter to those now
facing deportation.
Meanwhile the overcrowded camps in Hong Kong threaten to erupt
in violence and disease. The refugees' presence is deeply resented,
since many of Hong Kong's 5.7 million people have close relatives
who have been denied sanctuary and deported to China.
Though the British Foreign Office said there will be no more
involuntary repatriations this year, they are certain to resume
unless other nations offer an alternative. The boat people, says
a senior British diplomat, "are chasing a dream that doesn't and
can't exist." At least not in Hong Kong.