JAIAOW
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
20 February 1986
Dr R von Arnim
Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees LONDON SW1
HKK 243 / 243/1
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
2 5 FEB 1986
You
_timm,
DESK OFFICER
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Action Taken
ago
I
When we spoke on the telephone s ome days promised you a summary of the present position as we see i t on the resettlement of Vietnamese refugees
refugees from Hong Kong. Hope fully this letter will provide you with some useful background before your visit to Geneva.
We
As you know, our diplomatic campaign continues. have been helped in this by the Hong Kong Government's decision earlier this mon th to resettle some 250 "hard to resettle"
from refugees
camps
in
Hong Kong, and establish RASRO transit centre
a
in the territory.
shown
to This
decision was in s ome measure a response to the interest
several by
resettlement countries both in the possibility of local absorption in Hong Kong, and of Hong Kong establishing such a centre.
We regard Hong Kong's decision as a very helpful contribution towards the resolution of the problem of "hard to resettle refugees in the region. I t is particularly courageous, given Hong Kong's difficulties in being seen to give Vietnamese refugees a better deal than illegal immigrants from China, many of whom have far closer family and cultural ties with the territory. figure of 250, which i s on top of
the 14,500 displaced already Hong Kong
the achievements
seen
Indo-Chinese
that
especially when
have
high compared with countries, population pressures in Hong Kong.
in
The
i s
absorbed, of many resettlement
terms
the of
severe
I should add that no publicity on this decision will be initiated by the Hong Kong Government (although the decision will of course become public), SO as to reduce the risk of drawing more refugees out of Vietnam to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong's
agreement
to
establish
a
RASRO transit centre represents an effort to ease the problems faced by RASRO participants in resettling ship rescue cases within
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