From The Minister of State
Richard Luce MP
Walker
per 243/1.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
14 February 1985
43
kai Ran Paddy
for
Thank you
your letter of 24 January to Geoffrey Howe enclosing a letter from Mrs Elsie Elliott CBE to the Editor of the South China Morning Post (SCMP) about Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong. Mrs Elliott's letter was.printed in the SCMP of 5 January. You may be interested to read the enclosed copy of the reply by Mr Jeaffreson, Secretary for Security in Hong Kong, which appeared in the 16 January edition of the newspaper.
As Mr Jeaffreson's letter points out, Hong Kong has shouldered an enormous Vietnamese refugee burden since 1975. For the first few years, the rate of resettlement from the refugee centres in Hong Kong was satisfactory but by 1982 it had fallen considerably while large numbers of boat people continued to arrive. As a result the number of refugees in Hong Kong began to rise and their prospects of resettlement grew worse. It was with great reluctance that in July 1982 the Hong Kong Government decided to introduce the closed centre policy in order to deter further people from setting out by boat from Vietnam. The arrival rate has since slowed, but a flow nevertheless continues. Until it dries up, and until the 11,900 refugees who are still in Hong Kong are resettled, the Hong Kong Government can see no alternative but to continue the closed centre policy.
Both we and the Hong Kong Government are doing all we can to bring about an early and durable solution to the problem. Over the past few years, Britain has played a major role in tackling the problem of Indo-Chinese refugees. We have accepted some 19,000 refugees, most of them from Hong Kong, for resettlement here. The Hong Kong Government has accepted some 14,000. We have a continuing international commitment to resettle family reunion and ship rescue cases. We maintain regular contact with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other countries to find permanent solutions for all Indo-Chinese refugees, including those who are at present in Hong Kong.
HKCK 243/5
EIVED IN
Paddy Ashdown Esq MP House of Commons LONDON SW1A OAA
DESK OF
SH
/It