Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
PA
From The Minister of State
нко 243/18
RECEA
INDL
12 JUL 1988
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11 July 1988
N1317
1. sex
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Thank you for your letter of 9 June to Lynda Chalker enclosing one from your constituent, Miss Joan Strange of 16 Langton Road, Worthing, about Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong. I am replying as Hong Kong falls within my area of Ministerial responsibility in the Foreign and Commonwealth office.
I have just returned from an overseas tour which included a visit to the territory, and I have thus had an opportunity to see the problem for myself. As you will know, it has very rapidly become much more serious this year. There are now over 18,000 boat people in the territory compared with less than 8,000 about a year ago. Many of those now arriving are farmers or fishermen seeking better economic conditions rather than political refugees. Resettlement in the West, at just over 1,000 so far this year, is not keeping pace with new arrivals.
Against this background the Hong Kong Government, with the full support of Her Majesty's Government, introduced a new policy on 16 June. This involves screening all arrivals on the basis of UNHCR criteria to distinguish genuine refugees, who will continue to have access to resettlement, from those who are not refugees and whose motivation for leaving Vietnam is essentially economic. Those screened out will be detained as illegal immigrants, pending their return to Vietnam when arrangements can be made for them to go back under acceptable conditions.
The Rt Hon Terence Higgins MP
House of Commons
LONDON SWLA OAA
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