Yet of all the refugees resettled from South East Asia in the fines
6 months of 1980, 77% came from the latter countries and only 277
from Hong Kong.
The United Kingdom's involvement in Hong Kong's refugee problem
Until the beginning of 1979 the United Kingdom had accepted only 126
refugees from Hong Kong. In January 1979 the previous Goverment
agreed to accept another 1,000 from the Colony as part of a quota of
1,500 (the remainder to be divided equally between Malaysia and Thailand).
Before this commitment had been fulfilled, however, we were faced with
the major rescues by the Sibonga and the Roachbank (totalling 1,200
people), rapidly followed by the Geneva Conference in July 1979 at
which the United Kingdom undertook to relieve Hong Kong of a further
10,000 refugees.
WAKIONS
The Hong Kong authorities are particularly dee about the
United Kingdom's performance in the resettlement programme.
They
arque that the major resettlement countries (United States of America
and 2x pin) expect the Tited Kingdom, with its special responsibilities
for Hong Kong, to set an example and they are quick to point out what
they see as shortcomings, either in overall effort or in the