"I want to see the Governor of Hong Kong. I have something important to discuss with him!" Shi Zhijian drove to the Governor's House early in the morning and said to the personal secretary of the Governor of Hong Kong, Mak Laiho.
"I'm sorry, Congressman! The Governor of Hong Kong is in a meeting!" the secretary explained hurriedly. "Yesterday, a stowaway boat carrying 500 people had an accident near Wan Chai. The smuggled Vietnamese refugees triggered a huge response from the society. Demands
The government provides humanitarian relief to them!”
Shi Zhijian was stunned for a moment, "Bring me the newspaper!"
Shi Zhijian was busy sorting out the black gold affairs last night and didn't pay much attention to the hot news.
Soon the secretary handed today's newspaper into Shi Zhijian's hands.
Shi Zhijian looked carefully, and sure enough, a huge shipwreck occurred near Wan Chai Pier last night.
Specifically, when the Coast Guard was searching the stowaway boat, the smugglers exchanged fire with the Coast Guard in order to escape for their lives. In the end, the Coast Guard ship's shell hit the hull of the stowaway boat, causing it to sink.
Fortunately, after timely rescue, all the more than 500 Vietnamese stowaways were rescued except for two or three unlucky ones who drowned.
Now that public opinion has emerged, some newspapers and magazines have vigorously condemned the British Hong Kong government for being cold-blooded and shelling stowaway boats, causing casualties. Public opinion is now being used to blackmail the government into using humanitarian aid to rescue these Vietnamese refugees.
Mai Lihao was very troubled by this, so he held a meeting early in the morning to discuss a solution.
In fact, this matter is easy to solve, that is, just settle these refugees. But the question is where will the money for the rescue come from? Who will be responsible for the food, drink, and diarrhea of more than 500 people? More importantly, the follow-up question is, these 500 people
If you provide humanitarian assistance, what will you do if 500, 5,000, 50,000 people come in the future?
In fact, there are historical reasons why Vietnamese people sneaked into Hong Kong in this era.
After the demise of the Saigon regime of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) on April 30, 1975, the South Vietnam Saigon regime supported by the United States at that time was subjugated. The war ended and North Vietnam and South Vietnam were unified. A large number of Americans hurriedly evacuated with the assistance of the US military, and tens of thousands of Vietnamese also benefited from it.
Operation Chang Feng left. Afterwards, all sea and air traffic were blocked and temporary military control was entered. At that time, North Vietnam was reorganizing some South Vietnamese officials and people suspected of being related to the South Vietnamese Army and the US military, and was undergoing capitalist transformation, which caused ordinary South Vietnamese property owners to sneak across the country.
Going abroad is known as "taking refuge in the angry sea".
In the early days, these Vietnamese boat people who fled to the angry sea used dilapidated fishing boats to stow away. Most of them were wooden or iron boats from fishermen in the Mekong River Delta during the South Vietnamese period. In fact, it was difficult to sail across the ocean. Due to the large number of people, the conditions of the fishing boats were very harsh and there was a lack of fresh water.
Many stowaways have died on the boat before reaching their destination. Moreover, some boat people going to Malaysia and Thailand will encounter pirates in Thai waters. These pirates are cruel to the boat people and kill them indiscriminately if they cannot get their property, resulting in many boat people.
Died in the sea.
In the 1980s, Vietnam was extremely poor. A large number of Vietnamese fishermen smuggled to Southeast Asia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong to seek opportunities. It is estimated that millions of boat people smuggled out of the country throughout the 1980s. In Hong Kong alone, there were more than 200,000 Vietnamese smuggled into the country.
, White Shek, Shatin, Hoi Tai Industrial Building in Tuen Mun, Sham Shui Po Camp, Kai Tak Boat Owners Camp at 50 Kwun Tong Road, Kowloon Bay, Tai A Chau, Hu Tei in Tuen Mun and other places were converted into Vietnamese refugee camps until 2000, the last Vietnamese in Hong Kong
The refugee camp has just been closed.
In 1988, the Hong Kong government implemented refugee screening, and illegal economic immigrants who were classified as illegal would be deported. Radio Hong Kong broadcast a Vietnamese broadcast announcing the new policy every night. Because the first paragraph in Cantonese was pronounced "no loopholes", because these four words are quite happy.
, to this day, when people mention "no leaks" in Hong Kong, they will think of the Vietnamese.
The Vietnamese stowaways in Hong Kong refugee camps were arranged by the Hong Kong government for many years and cost more than one billion Hong Kong dollars to process. In the end, some were arranged to immigrate to European and American countries, some were repatriated to Vietnam, and tens of thousands of them stayed in Hong Kong and landed.
root.
This is the problem that has caused headaches for several Hong Kong governors in Hong Kong’s history, the issue of handling Vietnamese refugees.
It is now the end of 1975, and the incident of Vietnamese people smuggling into Hong Kong is getting worse and worse, and it continues to trigger an uproar in public opinion.
At this time, after a morning meeting, Mai Lihao and his think tank still had no clue. How to arrange for so many refugees? Where will the relief funds come from?
In order to develop Hong Kong's education and flaunt his own achievements, Mak Laiho has almost emptied the Hong Kong government's coffers. Where can he spend the extra money now to help these Vietnamese veterans?
In addition, even if they are rescued, they cannot be allowed to eat and drink for free without doing anything. It is unrealistic to send them back. After all, the British Empire is very particular about the "humanitarian" spirit.
In other words, if these people are sent back and subjected to persecution by the local government, Mai Lihao will become an internationally recognized "executioner", which will be even worse.
After thinking about it, Mai Lihao decided to stay put for the time being and wait and see the public reaction. If public opinion gradually subsided, he would just arrange a place for isolation of these Vietnamese people.
If public opinion becomes more and more intense, then we will really have to bleed money and use money to do good deeds.
During the break during the meeting, most people went out to smoke and drink water. Some people chatted quietly in the conference room.
As the eldest governor of Hong Kong, Mak Laiho sat alone in the chairman's seat and sighed.
Seeing that he was taking a break, the private secretary knocked on the door and came in to report: "Mr. Governor, Congressman Shek has something important to see you!"
Mai Lihao looked at the documents in front of him in a daze, as if he didn't hear anything.
The others glanced at the secretary, then turned their heads and continued talking softly.
The private secretary sighed inwardly, knowing that the Hong Kong Governor was feeling uncomfortable. Just as he was about to speak, Shi Zhijian came over and patted him on the shoulder: "No need!" After saying that, he nodded to the other people in the conference room.
Those people also know Shi Zhijian and know that he is the number one Chinese member of parliament. He has abolished the "polygamy" system, established the "Independent Commission Against Corruption", established the "Flying Tigers" and other great achievements. Everyone still admires this Chinese, not to mention Shi Zhijian.
In addition to being a member of Parliament, he is also nominally the third Earl of Great Britain, and belongs to the aristocratic class actually conferred by the Queen.
After Shi Zhijian greeted everyone gently, he walked straight to the Hong Kong Governor Mai Lihao. Only then did Mai Lihao see Shi Zhijian and said hurriedly: "It turns out to be Senator Shi, why are you here?"
"Come to help you!" Shi Zhijian said with a smile.
Mai Lihao thought Shi Zhijian was joking, so he shrugged and said, "I'm interested! But you can't help me with the problems I'm facing!"
Mai Lihao had previously appointed Shi Zhijian to inspect Lei Luo's house. Shi Zhijian got 100 million for Mai Lihao and stuffed it into the Hong Kong government's small treasury. Unfortunately, that 100 million was directly used by Mai Lihao to build three universities.
This speed of spending also stunned Shi Zhijian. No matter what his purpose was, Mai Lihao's contribution to education in Hong Kong was real and indispensable.
"Then let me tell you, I'm here to give you money, okay?" Shi Zhijian said with a smile.
"What?" Mai Lihao didn't hear clearly, "Didn't you already give me the money from Lei Luo's seizure?"
"They belong to other people!" Shi Zhijian said, taking out a list and placing it in front of Mai Lihao, "I hope you can pardon these people!"
Mai Lihao curiously took it and took a closer look, and immediately frowned and said: "Impossible! If nothing else, these three people, Chen Zhichao, Lan Gang and Han Sen, were greeted by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
'Heinous crime', the level of corruption is comparable to Lei Luo!"
After finishing speaking, Mai Lihao tapped the table with his fingers, "Also, you may not know that if they hadn't assisted Chief Superintendent Ding Yongqiang and Ding to conquer the Kowloon Walled City not long ago, the Independent Commission Against Corruption would have invited them to drink coffee!"
Shi Zhijian nodded in approval, "That's why I came here so early to ask for your help----"
Before Mai Lihao could refuse, Shi Zhijian took out a check from his pocket and placed it on the list, "This is their 'life redemption fee', do you think it's suitable?!"
"Huh?" Mai Lihao didn't care much at first. He glanced at it inadvertently. Then his face changed. He looked at the check in shock, and then looked at Shi Zhijian, "Twenty million?"
Shi Zhijian nodded, "Yes, it's 200 million! I just need you, the Governor of Hong Kong, to give them a chance!" But he thought in his heart, if I told you it was 500 million, wouldn't it scare you to death?! In order not to scare you,
I have no choice but to accept the remaining 300 million!
Mai Lihao was silent, tapping his fingers on the table, looking at the check, and then at the list.
Shi Zhijian continued: "Since you have already let one Lei Luo go, why don't you let a few more go online? Everyone is willing to spend money, just to buy peace of mind! There is an old saying in China that the law does not blame everyone, you should
Understand the meaning of this sentence!"
Shi Zhijian pushed the check forward again, "To be honest, this is just a matter of your words... With this money, you can help those Vietnamese refugees. When the Kowloon Walled City starts construction,
Let them come to my construction site to lay bricks - killing two birds with one stone, how great!"
Mai Lihao was moved.
Indeed, this kind of thing was just a matter of a word from the Governor of Hong Kong, John Mak.
You must know that during the colonial period, the Governor of Hong Kong was directly appointed by the British government. Hong Kong citizens could not vote for the Governor. The Governor appointed by the British government would become the chairman of the executive agencies and the legislative body, and would have control over all proposals and laws.
All have the final power of veto. At the same time, members of the judiciary and members of the Legislative Council are appointed by the Governor of Hong Kong. The final power of adjudication in Hong Kong needs to be decided by the British Privy Council.
Even Bailiqu, who is in charge of judicial power, has to follow his orders in front of Hong Kong Governor Mak Lihho, even if the order is wrong and unreasonable!
Seeing that Mai Lihao was still hesitating, Shi Zhijian took out the resignation letters of Chen Zhichao and the others and put them in front of them: "With this, it's okay?! They just want to save their lives and don't dare to expect too much!"
