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3.
are
To maximise the effect of our decision and Hong Kong's, we
pressing other resettlement countries to take additional
refugees from Hong Kong. So far Australia (200 refugees), Canada (500), Denmark (50), Finland (70), the Netherlands (80), New Zealand
(19), Norway (about 75) and Sweden (100) have offered specific
increases in resettlement places, and France is to resettle some
refugees. The US, which resettles more Indo-Chinese refugees than
any other country, is currently accepting refugees at an annual rate
of some 1,800, 200 more than the previous year's ceiling. Several
other countries are likely to respond favourably.
Repatriation to Vietnam
4.
Voluntary repatriation, considered by UNHCR to be the most
desirable solution to refugee problems wherever feasible, is not a realistic option for Hong Kong at present, because of the lack of volunteers among the refugees (only 22 so far, of whom only 14 have
returned to Vietnam; the remaining 8 await a decision from the
Vietnamese authorities on whether they may return).
5.
Involuntary repatriation would be popular in Hong Kong, where
there is general resentment over the fact that Vietnamese boat people receive better treatment than illegal Chinese immigrants who, despite having close ethnic and often family ties with Hong Kong
Chinese, are almost invariably repatriated to China. When Ministers last (May 1985) considered the possibility of discussing the subject
with the Vietnamese Government (who have hitherto refused to accept
back refugees who left Vietnam illegally), the Secretary
the Secretary of State
decided that such a course should not be pursued. He took the view Parliamentary and public opinion in this country would not
accept that we should discuss forcible repatriation with the Vietnamese regime given our condemnation of Vietnamese policies, not
least in Cambodia.
that
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