4:
the Secretary of State raise the matter with Mr Vance.
4. We see difficulties about any such Anglo/American
initiative. The UK is far down the list of countries
involved in resettling Vietnamese Refugees. We have admitted
1,400 Indo-Chinese refugees and have accepted ultimate
responsibility for all refugees rescued by UK-registered ships. In addition, the Home Secretary announced recently that we would admit a further 1,500 Vietnamese refugees. Our ability
to absorb more is severely limited given our commitment to
receiving about 70,000 immigrants a year. Any more prominent
rôle for the UK would undoubtedly lead to pressure on us to
admit more refugees than we could absorb.
5. We should prefer the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
to continue to take the lead in searching for solutions to
this problem. Nevertheless, it would be helpful if the Secretary
of State could mention the problem to Mr Vance and thank him
for US help over Hong Kong's problems. The State Department
have recently told us in confidence that the US will make every
effort to take a further 500 or 600 refugees from Hong Kong.
over the next 6 months. The USA will take some 100,000 Indo-
Chinese refugees altogether in 1979.
6. At the Prime Minister's initiative, the Indo-Chinese
réfugee problem was discussed at Guadeloupe.
No conclusions
were reached.
CONFIDENTIAL