CONFIDENTIAL
elsewhere rather than genuine refugees from political
persecution.
5. In 1979 we agreed to take 10,000 of Hong Kong's
boat-people. This quota was filled last year and, including the
arrival of close relatives, the total of Vietnamese resettled
here is now 16,500. The Home Office have said that they can
consider no more for admission beyond the 2,000 or so still
eligible on a family reunion basis and those who may be rescued
by UK shipping. This makes it difficult for us to persuade other countries to resettle more refugees.
6.
The Hong Kong Government have since July 1982 interned new
arrivals in closed camps, in order to deter would be refugees.
(Previously, refugees were given accommodation in open camps,
and allowed to work in Hong Kong). So far, however, this
policy, which has brought Hong Kong more into line with the
practice in other Asian countries, has had little apparent
effect on numbers of arrivals.
7. The problem of Vietnamese refugees remains a very real one
in Hong Kong. There are at present over 13,000 refugees
awaiting resettlement in Hong Kong compared with under 10,000 in
April 1982. Unofficial members of the Executive and Legislative
Councils see this as a test of HMG's commitment to Hong Kong,
and it is important to retain their confidence at this time of
uncertainty over the future of the territory. During Lord
Belstead's visit to Hong Kong in December 1982 he was asked by
the Hong Kong Government to investigate the possibility of
forcible repatriation to Vietnam of newly arriving boat people.
This would be welcomed in Hong Kong, where many consider that
most of these leaving Vietnam are not genuine refugees and
should not therefore be allowed to enter Hong Kong when illegal
immigrants from China are repatriated. The idea was considered
by FCO Ministers, but rejected: we were unlikely to get any
satisfactory assurances from the Vietnamese that those returned would not be maltreated; even to make an approach to a regime with such a poor human rights record would leave HMG open to
criticism.
CONFIDENTIAL