PTZABV
References
CONFIDENTIAL
A
A: minute from Secretary of State to Prime Minister of 17 May B: Hong Kong telno 1630 (report of US demarche in Hong Kong) C: FCO telno 1088 (speaking note used by US in above demarche)
Background
1. The Secretary of State is familiar with the issue of Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong. The background was included in his minute to colleagues of 17 May. Since then numbers of arrivals have risen still further: 4500 people have arrived so far this year, eight times as many as in the same period last year. The total population is now over 13,200, an almost 75% increase on this time last year.
2.
The offtake by the US of Vietnamese boat people from Hong Kong in 1987 was 333. This represents a marked decline on previous
years:
B
C
1985
1721
1986
1323
Since 1975 the US has resettled over 62000 of these people. The US authorities have indicated that they would be prepared to increase their offtake in 1988 but that such an increase would be dependent
on a marked increase in our own resettlement programme.
3. The US have alrady expressed reservations about a possible ASEAN consensus on limiting first asylum in which Hong Kong would play a part. Hong Kong telno 1630, reporting a demarche by the Americans in Hong Kong, is attached, along with FCO telno 1088 containing speaking note used by US side at that meeting.
CONFIDENTIAL