JAABB
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
Telephone 01-
233 4439
K J Woodhouse Esq
Security Branch
наи 24313
Government Secretariat
HONG KONG
Your reference SRD 404/1/C
Our reference
HKK 243/3
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
Date
1 1 APR 1986
10 April 1986
DESK OFFICEA INDEX
PA
72
Dear Ken.
EX-CHINA CASES AND VOLUNTARY DEPARTURE CASES
1.
Skyar
this
Thank you for your letter of
of 6 March, which provided us with most helpful summary both of recent developments on
a issue and of the "way ahead" as you see it.
2.
I have shown your letter to Stephen Nash in our South East Asian Department, since one of our concerns must of course be the risk that the flow of voluntary departure cases from Hong Kong to neighbouring places of first asylum will provoke difficulties with the other governments concerned. With this in mind, I am copying your letter and this reply to Nick Thorne, since the Philippines seem to be receiving the lion's share of your departures at present.
3. stage:
(a)
(b)
I have only two (limited) observations to offer at this
more
While taking your point in the final paragraph of page 2 of
letter, your
I fear that it will
be inevitably difficult to repatriate "ex-China cases"
cases" involuntarily to China from the Philippines (involving an air or sea trip) than it is across Hong Kong's land border.
Of course, the old argument about
salutary cases to discourage further arrivals would I suppose equally apply
two
few a
...
Presumably many of these voluntarily departing boats end up in the shipping lanes around Hong Kong, and the occupants are then rescued at sea. They would then be disembarked at the "first port of call", a fact which in its turn raises
issues: firstly, unless separate
UNHCR are able to notify you of these subsequent disembarkations, these cases would appear to have vanished without trace, with all the grim implications that thereby arise;
arise; and secondly, Stephen has pointed out, it is highly likely that (in the widespread absence of screening procedures elsewhere) ex-China cases are
thereafter being resettled in third
as