H.5
***
[MR.
MR. ALEXANDER: Will my rh F accept that there is
& difference in this country between refugees and immigrants?
Will he accept that we have an honourable history, over many centuries, of accepting refugees, and that many people on both sides of this Hse will be happy with his statement today?
total number
However, will he consider deducting from the that we accept from other countries/ the
accepting today from Vietnam?
of immigrants
numbery
that we are
SIR I. GILMOUR: With due respect to my h F, there is
[SI
}
a slight inconsistency between the first and second parts of his qn. I entirely agree that there is a distinction between refugees and immigratos. I also agree that we have an honourable record both on refugees and immigratns. But as they are not the same thing, and as we are faced with a problem which, up to almost a
year ago, nobody expected, I do not think that it is right to join these two categories together. They are only relevant
country's
in the sense that our/capacity to absorb new people
#t
is limited. I do not think/any closer connection.
is justified.
CMR.
*
SHORE: Precisely because so many people
are now at risk in the South China Sea, and because we must fear
that their
numbers will greatly increase in the days ahead,
Ι ask the rh G not to take up a firm position it would be
LI
wrong to do so at present about the nature and extent of the
tt
commitment we and others may have to undertake? May I also press
him on the qn of the real shortage of food supplies inside
Cambodia?
J follows
8