The aim of the aid would be to stop the boat people from fleeing Vietnam in the first place.

However, the number of boat people fleeing Vietnam was relatively small until 1978.

As a child, he had fled Vietnam with his family and settled in California.

Most of his family, except for some cousins, fled Vietnam in 1975.

In addition, he said, "it is likely to increase the number of people fleeing Vietnam by boat because they cannot leave through legal migration channels."

The film communicates this message by ending with the statistic that between 1975 and 1996 over 1,500,000 people fled Vietnam.

Of the 71,667 people known to have fled Vietnam that year, 961 were reported killed, 257 taken hostage and 857 women said they had been raped.

Young people fleeing Vietnam by boat say they fear forced farm labor in what are called new economic zones because of the harsh conditions.

His parents, who were a journalist and a teacher, fled Vietnam 21 years ago.

Such attacks on refugees fleeing Vietnam have increased in number and viciousness recently.