cc Ms Slater, HKD
INFORMAL EXCOM
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30 JUNE/1 JULY 1988
ASIA AND OCEANIA
UK
12/2 Mr Mulatt
HED 243/8
RECEIV
INDER.
14 JUL 1988
FICER
PA
TRY
ken
PAGE!
Delivered
R PA
بھی
S19
Me Hewitt
Hong Kong: UK Statement.
I should like to take this opportunity to inform members
of the Executive Committee of changes in policy in Hong Kong
relating to Vietnamese boat-people, which were announced on
15 June.
I should first make clear that we have discussed the issues
with UNHCR frankly and in detail. We are anxious to work
closely with them in the future, as in the past, on the
difficult issue of the Vietnamese boat-people.
The large increase in arrivals of boat-people in Hong Kong
in 1988 forced Hong Kong and British authorities to look again
at the problem which has confronted the territory for some
years now. By June 1988 there were over 17,000 Veitnamese boat-
people in Hong Kong compared with some 8,000 a year ago.
In 1988 so far, there have been over 8,500 arrivals; by
contrast around 1,000 have left for resettlement in a third
country. Since 16 June, when the new policy was introduced,
some 1,100 boat-people have arrived in 41 boats. This
underlines the size of the flow and the extent of the problem
facing the Hong Kong and British authorities.
/The
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