Friday 25 October 2019

Why did these poor Vietnamese choose to try and enter the UK?

It is absolutely horrific how these poor Vietnamese died in the back of that lorry trailer in Essex but why were they there? It seems some may have had relatives in the UK but if you look at a world globe you will see a large country called Australia due South of Vietnam and much closer to Vietnam than Essex. Oz also has a large Vietnamese population in Sydney and Melbourne where these unfortunate people might well have had relatives so why choose a longer more difficult journey to Essex?

The answer must be that Australian immigration has a well deserved reputation for rigorous application of its strict but just immigration rules that prioritize Australia's needs .or as Donald might say Australia first. The UK is still seen as a  soft  touch a view encouraged by the bien pensants of the BBC. That is a large part of the reason they try to get into the UK and it will continue until the BBC changes its liberal elite stupidity they broadcast to the whole world. They bear a large responsibility  for encouraging would be migrants undertaking these dangerous journeys.The  BBC which is like Mary Poppins practically perfect in every way will never admit their failings.

8 comments:

Edward Spalton said...

There is surely a significant Vietnamese community in France but I believe the bureaucratic controls may be stricter and more difficult to dodge than in Britain.

Off topic ( as a relief from contemplating this horrible event)
An upper class Englishman was being given a hard time by an Australian immigration, officer who asked aggressively
“Have you got a criminal record?”
“My dear fellow” said the toff “I am terribly sorry . I did not realise it was still necessary”

Eric Edmond said...

Good point Mr Spalton and good joke

Pascal Phanh said...

Edward Spalton correctly alludes to history in surmising that there might be a significant Vietnamese community in France (indeed, there is: well over a quarter of a million, by far the largest Vietnamese community in Europe). But it is to historical reasons that we must also turn in understanding the desire of many Vietnamese to come to the United Kingdom.
The history in question is that of the Boat People, an earlier wave of refugees on perilous journeys, which you will surely recall at its height in the late 1970s and early 1980s (although the phenomenon continued into the 1990s). The Boat People were very genuinely fleeing persecution, being on the defeated anti-communist side in the aftermath of the US withdrawal. If you found yourself in the waters of South East Asia at that time and seeking a non-communist harbour, one of the most logical destinations to try and point your boat was Hong Kong, and very many did indeed end up there. The territory was overwhelmed - around 70,000 Vietnamese landed in 1979 and over 100,000 in 1980. Throughout the 1980s, a succession of refugee camps were established to house the Boat People. As the colonial power, the United Kingdom was directly responsible for sorting out the humanitarian crisis. It did its duty. Margaret Thatcher, not perhaps always known for enthusiastically welcoming immigrants, did so on this occasion, perhaps sympathising with the fact that the refugees were very much symbols of the fight against communism, with which of course she was closely aligned. And so it was that a very significant number of the Boat People were evacuated from Hong Kong to the UK and given asylum. Large Vietnamese communities, with their roots in that extraordinary evacuation programme, exist to this day in numerous British cities and towns, notably in Birmingham and London. Precise etimates of their numbers vary, but we believe it is around 90,000, including second and now third generations born in the UK. Many, of course, still have family in Vietnam, and it is these links - and the great gratitude in which the UK is held by those with connections to the Boat People - which remain the key reason why many Vietnamese continue to wish to seek a new life in the UK today. That should be a source of pride to British people.

Pascal Phanh said...

Incidentally - no, not incidentally, but rather most pertinently - there is another reason why the evacuation of the Boat People is the historical key to why certain Vietnamese would rather join their expatriates in the UK than those in France or Germany, which both have larger and older Vietnamese communities. That is to say, while the UK's Vietnamese community overwhelmingly has its roots in those who fled communism, that is not necessarily true on the European continent. The French Vietnamese community, in fact, is more correctly described as two very distinct and bitterly opposed communities, one of which is indeed made up of those who fled after the fall of the south and is anti-communist, but the dominant and longer-established Vietnamese community in France predates the upheavals of the 60s and 70s and has its roots in those who came to France when it was still the colonial power, and who were sympathetic to the communists agitating for independence and remain sympathetic to the communist government in Hanoi today. Thus, many anti-communist Vietnamese seeking to come to Europe do not see France as the most naturally congenial destination. Similarly, the large Vietnamese community in Germany - around twice as large as that in the UK - is overwhelmingly found in the former East Germany, which should tell you all you need to know, namely that these people and the descendants of people who came from communist North Vietnam, to study and work in another communist state. There is also a large Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic with much the same history. In neither case, therefore, are they Vietnamese expat communities that you would feel at all inclined to join if you are from the anti-communist families that make up the Vietnamese community in the UK.
I hope this gives you all some insight into the reasons why the reasons why those poor people in the lorry were trying to get to the UK were almost certainly much more complex than those simply of economics or ease of entry. Hearts in the UK's Vietnamese community are bleeding for them right now, not least because most of them know precisely what it means to make such a perilous journey.
Thank you for listening.

Edward Spalton said...

Pascal,

Thank you for the comprehensive explanations. I do remember when the boat people were arriving and the local authority had a number of houses as reception centres but have to confess that I had not given them much thought since. As they have not been in the news since, I hope that means they settled happily.

Niall Warry said...

Thanks for the explanation Pascal.

Pascal Phanh said...

Thank you Edward and Niall for your interest and concern. Edward, the initial "settling in" process was not without certain difficulties, as might be expected in people that had suffered such trauma and found themselves in a strange environment far from home, through force of necessity rather than through choice. But Vietnamese are quiet people and good integrators by nature and many have been able to lead happy, successful and settled lives over time.

L fairfax said...

It is not just because of links to immigrants it is also the case that if you live here long enough illegally you can become legal. I know people who have done this.
No one wants to live illegally for ever - and in the UK you don't have to.