The World - News from Aug. 23, 1987

Hong Kong began returning Vietnamese refugees who had fled to the British colony from their homes in China. Almost 200 Vietnamese men, women and children crossed the border by truck in the first convoy. Over the past two months, more than 7,000 Vietnamese--many of them ethnic Chinese--abandoned their homes in China and poured into the territory amid rumors of quick resettlement in Western countries. Hong Kong, which had to open four detention centers to hold the refugees, considers them illegal immigrants because they already had been resettled in China.