ви
13/9
Noted ABla
RESTRICTED
}
HKK 2431!.
783)
Bussta
сде
10/9 Noted
Afcola
MV HUPEH AND MV PO YANG
1.
Please refer to Mr Segar's minute of 27 August to
Mr Edgar which attached a copy of Mr Soden's letter of 24 August. I am sure that we should go back to the Home Office on this, for the reasons set out in Mr Hoare's minute to Mr Segar of 11 August.
2.
One important point which the Home Office have not hoisted in is that ships registered in Hong Kong belong in fact to the British registry. Hong Kong does not have a separate list. HMG is therefore as responsible for ships from Hong Kong as for those from London or Liverpool. This is not just a legal point where refugees are concerned. Hong Kong as a dependency of the UK is doing its stuff as a country of first asylum. It must look to the UK to tackle the resettlement side of the work, when refugees rescued by ships from the joint registry are involved (see below).
3.
As Mr Soden says, public sympathy in the UK for Vietnamese refugees is diminishing. But so it is in Hong Kong. Unlike the position here, Hong Kong's direct problems from the Vietnamese refugees remain pressing and unavoidable. Hong Kong's figures for arrival in July was 1,613, the highest monthly arrival since July 1979, and nearly 50% of total arrivals in the region. Hong Kong's refugee population is rising at an alarming rate: it is also receiving an increasing proportion of all refugees. While it may be politically unacceptable to propose a further large quota for the UK, it is necessary in view of our relationship with and responsibility for Hong Kong that we should be seen to be helping as much as we can. Agreement to take the remaining refugees from the Hupeh and Po Yang, or even all1 Hong Kong registered ships, would not be a very large commitment but would demonstrate to Hong Kong that we are willing to be flexible and helpful. It might help to counter Mr Soden's argument that 'the possibility of further boat rescues by UK registered ships may provide us with problems enough' if you could provide some figures for previous cases: I do not think they are very high.
4.
There is also the question of other resettlement countries Hong Kong have, as you suggested, asked us to find some way of continuing to demonstrate our commitment in order to encourage others such as the US, Canada and Australia, to continue their HKK2432 offtake (see for example, Mr Davies' letter of 9 October 1981
It will not help Hong Kong if we are obviously reluctant to take any more than the minimum number of refugees.
(88
1981
to Mr Clift).
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