[JA2AKN]
CONFIDENTIAL
SECRETARY OF STATE'S BILATERAL WITH MR SHULTZ: 26 SEPTEMBER 1985
SECRETARY OF STATE'S VISIT TO CANADA: 27-28 SEPTEMBER 1985
Vietnamese Refugees in Hong Kong
Essential Facts
Statistics
1. 10,500 Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement.
60% have been there over 3 years.
Arrival rate has slowed since
introduction of closed camp policy, but flow nevertheless continues.
Report of Home Affairs Sub-Committee on Race Relations and
Immigration (SCORRI)
A Home Office White Paper in response to SCORRI's report on
"Refugees and Asylum with Special Reference to the Vietnamese" will
2.
be published on 26 September, the day of the Secretary of State's
meeting with Mr Shultz. It will announce inter alia:
(i) HMG's decision to accept for resettlement some 500 refugees who
have relatives in the UK but who would normally fall outside
the Home Office's immigration criteria for family reunion
cases. (Most of these are in camps in Hong Kong, but a few
will come from other places of first asylum in South East
Asia);
(ii) that, depending on the willingness shown by other resettlement countries to respond to Hong Kong's needs, HMG are prepared to
consider accepting further limited numbers from Hong Kong. The
Hong Kong Government would similarly be prepared to absorb
limited numbers into Hong Kong from the camps, but again this
will depend on other countries' response to the UK's
initiative.
CONFIDENTIAL