From The Minister of State
243/5 folio 214 refer).
per are 13/6.
ал
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
228
see
(217)
7 June 1985
HKK 243/5
JECEIVED IN REGISTRY
14 JUN 1935
DESK GEFILES
INDEX
PA
REGISTRY
| action Taken
Дели Редду,
i
Thank you for your letter of 20 May enclosing a copy of one from your constituent, the Reverend Jonathan Blake of 47 Roebuck Road, Rochester, ME1 1UE, about Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong and United States trade sanctions against Nicaragua.
The plight of the 11,000 Vietnamese refugees who are currently in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement is of great concern to both the British and Hong Kong Governments. As I am sure you know, the Home Affairs Sub-Committee on Race Relations and Immigration recently published a report entitled "Refugees and Asylum, with Special Reference to the Vietnamese". A number of the recommendations relate specifically to the problem of the refugees in Hong Kong. We are considering these very carefully and will be replying to Parliament as soon as possible. As Richard Luce said when giving oral evidence to the Sub-Committee on 4 February, and as he repeated in the two recent Adjournment Debates on Indo-Chinese refugee problems, no Minister could say that it is satisfactory or desirable that refugees should be in either open or closed camps. Our objective must be to try to find durable solutions for all of them as fast as possible. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Government continue to give temporary asylum to all newly arriving refugees from Vietnam. In cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and voluntary agencies, they make every effort to ensure that the refugees' basic needs are
/met
Mrs Peggy Fenner MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A OAA
Mr
bcc Waddington