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CONFIDENTIAL
VISIT BY MR PETER BLAKER MP TO HONG KONG: 23-25 SEPTEMBER 1979
IEF NO. HK 3a:
SUBJECTS FOR DISCUSSION WITH THE GOVERNOR
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG
Hong Kong Government Policy
1.
Currently Hong Kong Government Policy is:
(i) To accept for permanent settlement:
(a) those who are spouses, dependent children or depend-
ent elderly parents of people who were already
permanent residents of the territory before 1975;
(b) those who are picked up at sea by Hong Kong registered
vessels.
(ii) To provide temporary shelter, pending resettlement else-
where by UNHCR to those who arrive in Hong Kong in their
own boats (until recently, the Hong Kong Government have
also been prepared to provide temporary shelter to refugees
picked up at sea by vessels for whom Hong Kong is the next
scheduled port of call; but in view of the crowded con-
ditions in the territory, they now ask for a guarantee of
rapid resettlement in the country of the vessel's regis-
tration before allowing refugees to land in such
circumstances).
Present Situation in Hong Kong
2. 11,000 former residents of Vietnam (plus a further 2,500
Laotians and Cambodians) have been accepted for permanent settle-
ment in Hong Kong since 1975.
3. Since the Geneva Conference in July, the numbers of Vietnamese
refugees seeking temporary asylum in Hong Kong have dropped con-
siderably, from a peak of over 1,000 a day in June to fewer than
100 a day in August. But resettlement is still disappointingly
Although a total of over 70,000 Vietnamese boat refugees have
/arrived
slow.
CONFIDENTIAL