E.R.
Mr Hilary
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
HKK 243
RECEIVED IN D
57
IOSK
PA
1
}
(169HA)
cc Mr Woodfield
Mr Whalley
Mr Chilcot
Mr Fittall
Mr Simons, SEAD, FCO ✓
I attach Mr Birt's report on his three-week visit last month to Hong Kong. is valuable both as background information and a guide to future policy.
The main lessons appear to be:
It
ACE 1749
Had we relied on
a) That the experiment of sending a selection team out to
Hong Kong has amply justified itself.
paper selection and the guidance of UNHCR there would have been an enormous amount of extra work here and less
effective selection;
b) The Governor is understandably pressing for more refugees
to be taken more quickly. The letter to which Mr Birt
refers has been received and seeks an even faster rate of acceptances than that foreshadowed in conversation with Mr Birt 1,000 a month for the rest of this year
instead of the 500 a month for which we have so far been aiming. Such acceleration would cause practical and perhaps political difficulties. Nevertheless, the arguments
advanced by the Governor are cogent.
c)
Mr Birt's first-hand account of the appalling physical conditions in camps in Hong Kong and particularly the risk that refugees left there for a substantial period might fall under the influence of criminal elements in Hong Kong hoping to use them for criminal purposes when they arrive here are additional arguments for taking our quota sooner
than later.