A comparison of Vietnamese and Chinese human smuggling networks transporting people to the UK; similarities and differences in methods used and the experience of migrants travelling to and living in the UK

The smuggling of Chinese and Vietnamese nationals to the UK has garnered significant media, public and government attention. Both nationalities continue to feature prominently in reporting of modern slavery and trafficking where popular narratives indicate people from both countries are mostly forced into exploitative conditions having been tricked or compelled by circumstance to migrate illegally to the UK by organised crime groups. This article, based on research carried out over the past decade compares who, how and why people from Vietnam and China are smuggled and the types of criminal organisations involved in their movement and any subsequent criminality. It argues that whilst a minority of those smuggled may experience human trafficking, most do not and are economic migrants. In so doing it underscores the dissonance between public narratives and lived experience of those undertaking migration and demonstrates that broad brush enforcement responses to illegal migration are unlikely to be successful.