Vietnamese Fasters Protesting Refugees’ Plight in Hong Kong

Trung Ta, 70, has come from Canada to fast for 48 hours under a tent in Westminster’s Little Saigon.

He and four Vietnamese residents from the county started a fast Friday to protest the forced repatriation of refugees staying in camps in Hong Kong. The fast is sponsored by the Vietnamese Community of Southern California.

“The problem with refugees should be solved at the original point--the Communist government in Vietnam--not making the refugees go back,” said Chuyen Nguyen, the group’s general secretary. “Other countries who have influence should try persuading Hanoi to change its policies.”

Since 1975, when South Vietnam was captured by the Communists from the northern half of the nation, Vietnam has opposed the mandatory return of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese boat people from camps in Southeast Asia.

But Hanoi and Great Britain, acting on behalf of Hong Kong, agreed in October to forcibly return Vietnamese determined to have left for economic rather than political reasons.

Officials in Hong Kong, where more than 63,000 boat people are held, have determined that only about 5,000 qualify for refugee status under U.N. guidelines. Since the agreement, officials there have sent 87 people, struggling and crying as they were forced onto planes, back to Vietnam.

Vietnamese activists in Orange County say the forced repatriation is equivalent to condemning escapees back to jail. Once back, returnees are treated as second-class citizens and face discrimination in work and education, they said.

Participants in the fast said they hope others will join them over the weekend.