It
"(iii)
CONFIDENTIAL
If necessary, and as part of a burden-sharing agreement, Britain should accept a small share of those who are hard to resettle and have spent years in camps.
29.
Having regard to the Committee's recommendation that if necessary and as part of a burden-sharing agreement Britain should accept a small share of those who are hard to resettle and have spent years in camps HMG are prepared to consider accepting, in addition to the family reunion cases, further limited numbers of Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong. A decision on this will be taken
this will be taken in the light of the willingness shown by other resettlement countries to respond to Hong Kong's needs and of all the circumstances at the time.
seems the terms of the Government's Reply must remain HMG's policy until Ministers decide otherwise, and I would prefer the final sentence of the press line to be amended to reflect this, by adding "at this stage" (or some similar formulation) after
unable" and adding
曾察
a final sentence as follows: Whether we might be able to do So in future will be decided in the light of the willingness shown by other resettlement countries to respond to Hong Kong's needs and of all the other circumstances at the time" This would make the wording consistent with our commitment to consider accepting further refugees.
It would also avoid an adverse reaction in Hong Kong, whose people are at present particularly sensitive about HMG's continuing commitment to the territory and its problems. Any public use of a wording which appeared to represent a back-sliding on the formal commitment contained in the Government's reply to SCORRI would be quickly picked up in Hong Kong, and would give rise to enquiry and criticism.
4. We have had no queries from the press so far on the Refugee Action report. However, Ian Wrigglesworth has won the ballot for the Commons adjournment debate on 8 May, and has chosen the subject "Vietnamese Refugees in Hong Kong". As well as this, Lord Chitnis has tabled an Unstarred Question for answer in the Lords on 14 May: