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FOREIGN SECRETARY:
The topic was one that I discussed not only with Mr.
Shevardnadze but with Mr. Chen Yuequian (phon), the new Chinese
Foreign Minister, and the Vietnamese Foreign Minister as well and I have indicated, I think, that the matter is under urgent
consideration.
I made it plain in Hong Kong and again in New York that Hong
Kong cannot go on indefinitely providing a transit point for a
future that does not and cannot exist.
There is a debate taking place in the House of Lords on it
today and any decisions that are taken will be made known as 6000 as
possible.
SIMON SCOTT PLUMMER.
Does this presuppose, given the difficulty of this, that
there will be a change of policy on accepting refugees?
FOREIGE SECRETARY:
What I have been indicating is that as it becomes clearer
that the overwhelming majority of those who now seek to arrive in
Hong Kong are not political refugees fleeing from political or
religious persecution, then it becomes increasingly necessary to
check that flow and one way of doing that is to indicate that not qualifying for refugee status they cannot expect to go on from Hong
Kong to refugee status in the rest of the world.