Rery
No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
CONFIDENTIAL
DRAFT MINUTE
Type 1 +
FROM
To:-
Minister for Overseas Development
SECRETARY OF STATE
Telephone No. Ext.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
1.
Department
Since my return from Kingston and Washington, I have given urgent consideration to the problem of the refugees from the war in Vietnam who have arrived by a variety of means in Hong Kong.
2. Hong Kong has coped very well with the situation so far but clearly the strain on their social services is very considerable, particularly bearing in mind the fact that Hong Kong absorbs 36,000 legal immigrants from China every year, not to speak of illegal immigrants who escape the vigilance of the immigration authorities. A permanent home, outside Hong Kong, must be found for these unfortunate people and I am in touch with the American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Danish and Swedish Governments about this.
3. Hong Kong has not so far asked for any financial help from us for emergency relief work but the Governor has naturally drawn attention to the fact that it will be easier for the people of Hong Kong to accept the burden if they believe that HMG is doing all it can to help. I understand that £250,000 of the £1 million allocated to Vietnamese war relief is so far unallocated and in my view there are very strong grounds for making some contribution to help Hong Kong with the task. Hong Kong is used to natural disasters of one kind or another but it would, in my view, be very undesirable to expect the Government there to carry the burden of this human problem alone.
4. I am copying this to the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and to Sir John Hunt.
CONFIDENTIAL
F