1714
PRIVÝ
5
EAL
HKK 243
RECLIVED IN STOKEN NO. 51
26 SEP 1979
DEAK OFFICER
INDEX
PA
Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW4--
LOND
25 September 1979
Thank you for your letter of 15 September to Peter Carrington about Indo-Chinese refugees in Hong Kong.
It has taken a little time to gather all of the statistics for which you asked and I am afraid that some of the information is just not available. However, I hope that the following replies to your
questions will be of some help.
1. The total number of refugees in gainful employment in Hong Kong on 20 September 1979 was 15,574. Based on the age structure of a sample of refugees and applying this to the population of the open camps, the percentage of those working compared with the total number of adults is 44%.
2. At the end of August 1979, a total of 3,774 refugees from Indo-China had been resettled in the UK; 3,361 of these were originally from Vietnam. A further 1,767 refugees in Hong Kong have also been selected for permanent resettlement in the UK and these have now started to arrive.
3. 13% of all refugees from Indo-China who arrived in Hong Kong from 1 January to 14 September 1979 were classified as Vietnamese from South Vietnam. Precise statistics for the present camp population are not available.
4. On 18 September 1979 there was a total of 68,385 refugees in Hong Kong.
The Rt Hon Alfred Morris MP
House of Commons
London SW1A OAA