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5. (contd)
we have no evidence of this: in fact there have been some encouraging travellers tales from China that Vietnamese refugees in China are being told that they vill not be allowed to go to Hong Kong unless they have an onward visa.
6.
The one encouraging local development is that there geEN: to be good prospects of converting former Gurkha married quarters" (Jubilee Buildings) for use as a transit centre (i.e. a camp in all but name). This would be run for UNHCR by the local representative of the International Rescue Committee. Renovation would involve considerable capital expenditure but the Americans can probably make sufficient funds available. It may also be a month or two at the least before any refugees could be moved there. Once complete it might vell be able to accommodate 4,500. There are a number of problems concerning the lease since the present owners are trying to obtain heavy compensation from Government which plans to resume the land for development as an open space. We are keeping our fingers crossed that all of these problems can be quickly surmounted.
Internationalisation
7.
My meeting with members of the Consular Corps here on 5 September has not yet produced much in the way of concrete offers beyond a Canadian offer to take ten rather than five families per month. Hovever, missions here have been keeping in touch with us and we are about to circulate to them some further background in the form of statistics concerning refugees here (copy attached). We are often asked about the U K contribution and the group of 61 has been used for all it is worth. It would give an immense mip here if the UK could come up with the sort of offer referred to in para 4 of John Thompson's letter. We hope that greater ministerial interest in the problem will make the chances of a substantial U K contribution greater. Please let us know if there is anything further ve could do here to help. One possibility, though I have not discussed it with anyone else here, might be a self-explanatory memorandum on Hong Kong's refugee problem. for your comments.
Grateful
(I C orr)
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Distribution -/over
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