นเท
QOHMI DENTI AL
RESPONSE SO FAR RECEIVED FROM GOVERNMENTS ASKED TO FIND HOMES FOR VIETNAMESE REFUGEES NOW IN HONG KONG
As a result of the exodus from Vietnam, a total of 3,909 refugees were received in Hong Kong and housed in special camps there pending resettlement elsewhere.
THE UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR) has proposed, and we have agreed, that Mr Kadry, his Far East Regional Representative, should visit Hong Kong without publicity to discuss the question of Vietnamese refugees there with the Hong Kong Government. He is arriving in the Colony on 8 June.
THE UNITED STATES is ready to accept any Vietnamese related to US citizens or immediately related to any Vietnamese evacuated by the Americans, and employees of the US Government or their relatives. The Americans have not so far shown any inclination to go beyond this commitment, but the State Department have said they are doing their best for us. Our Embassy will be checking the position again later this week.
CANADA has agreed to accept a total of 3,000 Vietnamese refugees altogether, 300 of these from Hong Kong. It is possible that the total ceiling of 3000 might be raised but the position is uncertain.
AUSTRALIA has not committed herself on the number of refugees she is prepared to accept, and Mr Whitlam has made it clear that he wishes to deal with the problem through the UNHCR. The Australians are sending a four-man immigration team to Hong Kong to examine the situation there and report back.
NEW ZEALAND has said she will take up to 50 families of Vietnamese refugees; and that any from Hong Kong will be subsumed in that total.
CONFIDENTIAL
/FRANCE
4.