See 255
الله
wy Foreign and Commonwealth Office
UNS 243/4
M
London SW A 2AH
9/x
Pr. Whitto
From The Minister of State
THE RT HON THE LORD GORONWY-ROBERTS
5 October 1978
야
PA
(248)
Den Bryn.
HKK 243/1
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY RO. 51 3 0 OCT 1978
REG RY
DESK OF CER INDEX
PA
Action
en
Our officials have been in close touch over the problem of Indo-Chinese "boat refugees" who are arriving in ever-increasing numbers at various ports in South East Aisa. In recent weeks I have become particularly concerned at the problem which Hong Kong is facing in this respect. I hope you will forgive me if I set out the background at some length.
In 1976, when influxes of "boat refugees" began to arrive at various ports in South East Asia, most countries in the region were inclined to refuse permission for them to land; one of their motives was to avoid becoming dumping grounds for refugees who might not find alternative countries of resettlement. The Hong Kong authoritie were also at first reluctant to allow any to land there (except for very short periods for the purposes of transit to other countrie The year before, just after the fall of Saigon, Hong Kong had given safe haven to 4,000 shipwrecked Vietnamese. Many were eventually resettled in the USA, but some had to be allowed to stay in Hong Kong. The Colony was already overcrowded and had other problems with illegal immigrants from China. In addition, between 4000 and 5,000 Vietnamese had entered Hong Kong illegally. Not surprisingly Hong Kong was not keen to accet further shiploads of refugees. In 1976, however, we persuaded the Hong Kong authorities, for human- itarian reasons, to adopt a more liberal approach to the question of accepting these unfortunate "boat refugees". We maintained clos contact with the Americans and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and with the Americans, we were instrumental in internationalising the problem.
We wanted the burden
to be more evenly spread: it was evident the countries in the region could not cope on their own.
The UNHCR subsequently appealed to governments for resettlement places for these refugees. In response to that appeal, Merlyn Rees agreed to admit a quota of 116 to the UK. Most of those who eventually came here within this quota were from Singapore and Thailand; only a few came from Hong Kong. By this time, countries in the region were refusing to allow even the temporary landing of refugees unless third countries were prepared to provide acceptance guarantees on their behalf. When the quota of 116 was filled, your Department agreed that we could give guarantees on behalf of refugees rescued by UK registered shipping. This has enabled British ships to off-load refugees at their first ports of call following rescue operations. Despite the open-ended nature of this commitment,
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