§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the current situation as regards the Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong and the trend in arrivals.
§ Mr. MaudeOn 27 April 1990 there were 54,587 Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong. Out of that total, 10,910 are refugees, 8,111 have been definitively screened out as non-refugees and the remainder are awaiting or undergoing screening. The total number of arrivals in184W Hong Kong so far this year is 1,250, 64 per cent. less than in the corresponding period last year. Two thirds come from the south of Vietnam, a reverse of the trend in 1989 when the great majority came from the north. Sixty-five per cent. are ethnic Chinese.