Mrs L G Belfall
RESTRICTED
2
7 Lctober 1976
1,190 such inrigrants were returned in 1975. The Hong Kong authorities are surrently of the view that for every single ille 1 iraat) who is returned to China up to ten or even poidnātāja detection and remain in the Colony, ie Aprožimately 10,000 annually. In addition to Chinese immi-
oot w 19kens tends to be regarded as a haven for potential
illegal immigrants from elsewhere in the region. vača koylasergey that you end the third sentence in
your note to read:-
ecome
the
4.
outh
1. absorbs about 30,000 immigrants annually imes Woll as a number of refugees/illegal
ou from elsewhere in the Far East and
138 it would not therefore be reasonable to élpha) bargcong to accept significant numbers of sty Tran Indo-China for permanent settlement. fourth sentence might, in cousequence, be amended to read:.
"a particularly difficult situation arose in the spring of 1975 when some 4,000 refugees, who Lad been rescued from a sinking ship, arrived in longi
(iii) iaragrahh 12
I would prefer to say that on him in trưing resees fro Hong Kong would be to "ease vis mormous burden on a small end already densely populated territory which, as indicuted in paragraph 2 above, has serious and continuing refugeer problems of its own."
5. (iv) Faragraph 13
It should perhaps be made explicit that (as I take it to be the case) the proposal in this paragraph refers only to the second category of refugees, is to those who have been granted temporary asylum in Thailand and not to the "shipwrecked" category.
6. CEST LETTER TO EN TREASURY
Faragranh 2
we think that it would give more weight to your draft letter if it were to be made olear that the High Conmissioner's appeal on behalf of "small boat" refugees was launched when it was as e result of some pressure from ourselves and the Americans. might berefore like to insert the following after the second sentere in paragraph 2 of your draft:-
Tou
RESTRICTED
/ "For some