DSR 11C
радост
insertion
existing overcrowding in Hong Kong and the large daily
flow of immigrants from China. Since 1975, the Hong
Kong Government have arranged for more than 5,000
former residents of Vietnam to fly to Hong Kong to
join close relatives there, and A further 5,700 who have
made their own way to the Territory have been allowed
to settle there, even though they have no special claim on Hong Kong. In addition there are At the moment more
than 20,000 people, who have arrived on large and small
boats, who are being taken care of pending their
resettlement elsewhere.
We believe that the real long-term solution must come
about through a change in the internal policies of
Vietnam that have been causing these people to flee the
country as refugees. We have left the Vietnamese
authorities in no doubt of our abhorrence of their human
rights record. On 23 January, I told the Vietnamese
Ambassador how much the Government deplored the practice
of putting people on boats against payment of money in
the hope that other countries in the area would take them
in, and we have spoken forcefully to the Ambassador on
subsequent occasions.
I am afraid that, until Vietnamese policies change, this
problem will remain with us. In the meantime, we shall
continue to encourage all countries fully to support the
work of the UN High Commissioner in his daunting task of
Zonintaining
ERRO DJ D3Z4V4 2001 2779) SIS