}
DSR 11 (Revised Sept 85)
DRAFT: minute/letter/teleletter/despatch/note
FROM:
Secretary of State
DEPARTMENT:
TEL. NO:
BUILDING:
ROOM NO:
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
TO:
Top Secret
The Rt Hon Tom King, MP
Secret
Confidential
Restricted
Unclassified
PRIVACY MARKING
House of Commons
London SW1
SUBJECT:
CAVEAT
TYPE: Draft/Final 1 +
Reference
TG1BAU
Your Referenc&tman
HKD
Copies to:
In Confidence
Thank you for your letter of 9 June enclosing one
from your constituent, Miss M E Cowdery of Carangola, 13
Old Farm Close, Minehead, Somerset, about Vietnamese boat
people in Hong Kong.
Enclosures flag(s)
I can well understand your constituent's concern
about the closed centres, having seen conditions there at
first hand during my recent visit to Hong Kong. They
were introduced in 1982 in an attempt to stem the flow of
boat people from Vietnam, which was reaching unmanageable
levels and which far exceeded the capacity of the
resettlement countries to resettle them. However, I can
also reassure your constituent from my recent personal
experience that the Hong Kong authorities are making a
considerable effort, under extarmely difficult
circumstances, to ensure that conditions in the centres
are as humane as possible.
Since the middle of last year, however, the situation