Abstract
The fall of Saigon in April 1975 to the communist forces of North Vietnam precipitated a refugee crisis, but it was not immediately apparent to the international community that there would be a need to provide a long-term commitment to refugee assistance: the initial exodus created by the collapse of the Thieu regime was believed to be the extent of the problem and accordingly planning was limited. However, unanticipated political events provoked further crises when Vietnam lost control of the delicate balancing act she had maintained, in holding on to the vital support of both the USSR and China, throughout the course of the war.
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Note
The ‘myth of return’ is discussed in J. L. Watson (ed.) (1977) Between Two Cultures, chapters 2–5 passim. In relation to other ethnic communities settled in Britain, the desire to hold on to the idea of return is explained as a rationalisation of the wish to retain familiar values and as a channel for expressing a sense of unease about living in a host community. Similar explanations may apply to Vietnamese refugees in the camps.
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© 1990 Linda Hitchcox
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Hitchcox, L. (1990). Why They Had To Leave. In: Vietnamese Refugees in Southeast Asian Camps. St Antony’s/Macmillan Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20979-8_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20979-8_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-52578-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-20979-8
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