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4.
The White Paper also announced that, depending on the
willingness shown by other resettlement countries to respond to Hong Kong's needs
on all the circumstances
at the time, HMG would be prepared to consider accepting further limited numbers from Hong Kong. We are considering
with the Home Office whether HMG may accept such a "further
limited number". It
It is unlikely that the issue will be
resolved before ExCom. The Hong Kong Government indicated that it would also be prepared to absorb limited numbers
from the camps, if there was a positive international
response to our diplomatic campaign. There was such a response, and Hong Kong is now absorbing up to 250 more
refugees, drawn from the longest- staying ethnic Chinese.
Alternatives to Resettlement
5.
We are concerned about the reluctance of some of the
main resettlement countries to accept as refugees from Hong
Kong camps those whom they consider to have left Vietnam
for economic rather than political reasons; and about the implications for Hong Kong of a resultant decline in the
rate of resettlement whilst the flow of new arrivals in
Hong Kong from Vietnam is continuing. In order to explore
what alternatives to resettlement
to resettlement in the West might exist,
we have approached members of the "Inter-governmental Committee" (IGC) (or "Honolulu Group"). This comprises the
main resettlement countries (the US, Australia and Canada),
Japan and the UNHCR, and meets periodically in Geneva for informal discussions on refugee and resettlement matters.
6.
the
We understand that recently the Group have addressed
same concerns as ourselves.
An Australian paper
discussed at the last meeting of the Group (in June) drew
attention to:
(a) the continuing outflow from Vietnam;
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