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COMELCO
Office of Members of the Executive and Legislative Councils 行政立法兩局議員辦事處
The Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher, MP
House of Commons
London SW1A OAA
United Kingdom
17 November 1988
R22
theas Prime Minister
Vietnamese Boat People in Hong Kong
The Vietnamese boat people influx to Hong Kong has worsened dramatically since I last wrote to both Houses of the UK Parliament in January 1987. Today we have a refugee population of 15,552 which represents а 938% increase over the figure of 8,059 in January 1987. In addition, we have another 9,547 Vietnamese boat people who have arrived but whose refugee status or otherwise has yet to be ascertained.
The record of UK's acceptance of Vietnamese refugees from Hong
been Kong has
disappointing. Over the past five years, UK has taken less than 1,000 Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong whereas during the same period, the United States and Canada had each resettled 5,497 and 4,958 respectively - five times that of the UK while Australia took in more than 2,500. I need not draw on further statistics to show why resettlement countries are finding
are finding it increasingly difficult to justify the
of acceptance
more refugees from Hong Kong when
UK, sovereign state, has only managed to take in so few.
the
The influx and the lack of adequate resettlement forced the Hong Kong Government to introduce a number of new measures to tackle the problem. We have, since 16 June 1988, stopped granting refugee status automatically to Vietnamese boat people arriving in Hong Kong. AS a parallel measure, we have also started a liberalization programme for the refugees currently kept at closed centres. However, these measures will not be effective unless the UK takes a lead in increasing the number it takes for resettlement SO as to encourage other resettlement countries to accept the remaining refugees.
Legislative Council Building, 8 Jackson Road, Central, Hong Kong. KREU^#££ Tel: 5-8440700