asked to take by the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees. So that we have met his request. I think you have
to bear in mind that we have taken into Britain in the last
10 years a very large number of immigrants. Indeed we've taken
nearly a million immigrants into Britain in 10 years and that,
as I said earlier, has posed for us a difficult problem of
absorption. But the main point is that we have taken the number
that we were asked to take.
Question:
So far this year Britain has only taken about 2,000 refugees
from Hong Kong. Can you give us any idea how many will have
been taken by the end of this year, given the commitment for
15,000 which is going to take a long time at this rate ?
Mr Blaker: I believe I am right in saying that by the end of this year we
would have taken this year 3,400. As far as we can judge at the
present time. The problem of course is that you have to have
at the other end, the receiving end in Britain, the appropriate
facilities to receive them and that is what at the moment is
holding things up. The voluntary agencies who have assumed
responsibility for receiving the refugees and who are doing
extremely well are working hard at this problem of expanding
their facilities. But the best estimate that I can make at the
moment is about 3,400 by the end of this year.
Question: According to a report this morning Hanoi was quoted as being rather
upset about something which you said in Singapore about the
possibility of 800,000 more people coming out of Vietnam after
the Geneva moratorium. Do you see therefore perhaps the future
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