SECRETARY FOR SECURITY :
Budget Speech by stor
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in the course of this debate, seven Members have spoken forcefully on the subject of Vietnamese refugees.
Their remarks reflect the frustration of the community
generally on this issue, and I can assure Members that the
- Administration understands this feeling.
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The major focus of this frustration must, however, be
the economic and social circumstances which perpetuate the
flow of people from Vietnam in small boats. In this
connection, the United Kingdom, the major resettlement
countries and our neighbours in the region have continued to
urge Vietnam to take the necessary steps, to stop this unhappy
traffic, but with little success. Hong Kong, for its part,
has conducted working level discussions with other countries
of first asylum in the region, with the aim of finding out how
similar problems are handled in different places and assessing
the likelihood of a common approach on these matters.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong once again faces the prospect of
ile,
increasing numbers of boat people arriving on our shores.
*600
Over 2400 have arrived this year, 1381 in April alone. And
resettlement countries, which have collectively done so much
to ease our burden over the last decade, and to whom we are
the