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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
243/1.
(19)
M W Growcott Esq KUALA LUMPUR
Telephone 01-
Your reference
Our reference
FA 243/15
Date
9 August 1983
Dear Grascett,
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
1 Bill Dixon agreed I might reply to your letter of 27 July asking for a line to take on our refugee policy.
2 You are quite right to argue that our first responsibility is to the refugees in Hong Kong (however little we can do to take more of them, let alone contribute to offtake from Malaysia). We have had very few enquiries here about our policy, apart from private approaches from such as the British Refugee Council. Recently our chief preoccupation has been discussing, in confidence, with UNHCR and the major resettlement states ways they might manage to take more from Hong Kong themselves.
3 I suggest the best line for public use in Malaysia would be roughly as follows:
(a) we have taken over 16,500 boat-people for resettlement,
including 11,500 under two quotas from Hong Kong.
(b) these quotas were filled last summer and in present
circumstances (economic, alternative immigration pressures) it is difficult to see a further quota being possible.
(c)
(d)
[if pressed] Resettlement not a great success, cultural differences, lack of historical ties etc. UK not the place most want to go to.
any more we could do, we should want to do for Hong Kong which, with Malaysia, is the most popular
HKK 243/1
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
10 AUG 1983
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