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Report on Mr. Stumpf's visit to Bonn on April 22, 1981
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Meeting with Mrs. Glaeser, assistant to Mr. Reiche, Deputy Head of the Humanitarian Aid Department, Auswaertiges Amt. Mrs. Glaeser apologized for the absence of Mr. Reiche who is at present in hospital. Mrs. Glaeser stated that the present atmosphere in Germany is unfavourable as far as resettlement of any non-German persons is concerned. She, however, confirmed that this problem is not so much related to the Vietnamese refugees which still form a tiny minority but rather to the very large number of foreigners who have either been admitted to Germany as "Gastarbeiter" or as political asylum seekers. I was again told that the central government in Bonn depends upon the "Laender" governments as far as resettlement and resettlement quotas are concerned. course, repeated what I had been saying during previous visits in Bonn that we are not asking for an increase of their quota but for a fairer distribution of the quota among the countries of first asylum.
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I then called on Ministerialdirigent, Dr. Fuchs who is Under Secretary responsible for Refugee Affairs, Federal Ministry of the Interior who visited Hong Kong in 1979 and whom I have seen twice in Bonn. Dr. Fuchs expressed his concern and his embarrassment that Germany so far has done so little for Hong Kong. He once again explained to me the present situation in Germany; he also emphasized the unfavourable climate towards foreigners in Germany. He mentioned that there is hope that Germany will increase its present quota for Vietnamese refugees by 2,700. He, however, stated with regret that the unfilled part of the quota of 26,000 as well as the new quota of 2,700 are fully committed for family reunion cases and for boat refugees picked up by German ships. He mentioned that both within government as well as among the general public, the hope is still being expressed that Vietnamese refugees could be resettled somewhere in South-East Asia. The Germans are doubtful that Asian refugees can be successfully integrated in their country. He himself, however, does not share this view as there are no data which would support such a statement.