CONFIDENTIAL
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a few returnees to Laos and some Laotian highlanders settling in
Thailand and Muslims in Malaysia, there was little hope for a regional solution for South East Asian refugees. The first asylum countries were sticking to the 1979 Agreement that they would accept arrivals but expected them all to be resettled elsewhere. Mr Luce said that the 20,000 Vietnamese accepted by the UK had not settled in well: 80% of those of working age were unemployed.
Hong Kong
3. Turning to Hong Kong Mr Luce said that the territory had already settled some 14,000 Vietnamese refugees. There was increasing public pressure against the policy of allowing the Vietnamese to stay while illegal Chinese arrivals were turned back. The SCORRI report would be out towards the end of April and HMG would then have to consider whether or not to take a further quota from Hong Kong. Some 500 Vietnamese had been identified as having relatives in UK. If the UK were to take a further quota, would the other resettlement countries follow suit by taking additional numbers from Hong Kong? Mr Smyser said the High Commission could not speak for other countries but he knew that all the major resettlement countries saw Hong Kong as a UK responsibility and expected the UK to set the pace. UNHCR appreciated Hong Kong's efforts in the past. He added that he did not expect China, which had already settled some 20,000 Vietnamese, to take any
more.
19 March 1985
cc: PS/Mr Luce
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CONFIDENTIAL
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