Parliamentary Unit
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Hhk243/2
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DESK OFCILE
INDEK
150. 51
PE ASTRY
un Talon
No
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.6/7
Afsh
A
PQ: HONG KONG: VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
1.
I submit a draft reply to a PQ by Dr Edmund Marshall MP for
written answer. The draft is based on information supplied by the
Hong Kong Government.
2.
The background to this case is in paragraphs 3 and 4 of
my submission of 11 June.
HIK 243/1 3.
Dr Marshall asks the same PQ approximately every quarter.
However, the Minister and Lord Belstead should be aware that,
as the Hong Kong Government have been predicting for some months,
the number of refugees there has started to increase, and is higher
now (11,253) than at the time of Dr Marshall's last PQ (10,440)
on 4 April. There was a similar slight increase between
Dr Marshall's PQs in April 1981 (19,093) and July 1981 (19,339),
due to the higher rate of arrival of refugees during the summer.
However, the present increase is of great concern to the Hong Kong
Government because of the difficulties now being experienced in
resettling refugees. This has already led to a decision to detain
all new arrivals in closed camps.
4.
The problem of Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong is likely to
feature prominently during the Prime Minister's visit in the
autumn.
Bin
R D Clift
Hong Kong and General Department
1 July 1982
сс
PS/Lord Belstead
Mr Donald
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