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FM HONG KONG
TO PRIORITY FCO
TELNO 4708
OF 30113OZ DECEMBER 88
INFO PRIORITY OTTAWA
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MDLIAN 5073
TOP COPY O DET 7
YOUR TELNO 3282 VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE: FURTHER RESETTLEMENT
ON 22 DECEMBER WE ISSUED A PRESS RELEASE WELCOMING MR EGGAR'S
STATEMENT ON THE FURTHER RESETTLEMENT OF VIETNAMESE REFUGEES FROM HONG KONG. FULL TEXT OF THE STATEMENT IS IN MIFT.
2 =
THE ANNOUNCEMENT WAS GIVEN VERY FULL COVERAGE IN BOTH THE WRITTEN AN ELECTRONIC MEDIA. THE GENERAL LINE WAS ONE OF CAUTIONUS WELCOME. BOTH RITA FAN AND HUI YIN-FAT WERE QUOTED IN NEWSPAPERS AS
HAVING RESERVATIONS ABOUT THE OFFER BECAUSE IT WAS ONLY A CONDITIONAL ONE, AND COMMENTED THAT A FIRM OFFER WOULD HAVE MADE IT EASIER TO PERSUADE OTHER RESETTLEMENT COUNTRIES TO TAKE AWAY MORE FROM HONG KONG.
3. THE LEFT WING NEWSPAPER WEN WEI PAO COMMENTED EDITORIALLY THAT THE OFFER OF 1,000 PLACES WAS A SMALL ONE AGAINST THE TOTAL NUMBER OF SOME 15,000 VIETNAMESE REFUGEES STRANDED IN HONG KONG, AND COULD HARDLY HELP TO RESOLVE THE PROBLEM. WEN WEI PAO THOUGHT THAT THE CONDITIONAL NATURE OF THE OFFER CAST DOUBT ON BRITISH SINCERITY.
4. THE EFFECT OF THE BRITISH OFFER WAS SOMEWHAT OVER-SHADOWED BY
THE ANNOUNCEMENT THE FOLLOWING DAY THAT CANADA WOULD TAKE 900 BOAT PEOPLE IN 1989 UNDER A GOVERNMENT QUOTA CUP FROM 600 IN 1988) WITH A
POSSIBLE FURTHER OPP UNDER PRIVATE SPONSORSHIP. SOMEWHAT UNFORT-
UNATELY THE CANADIANS STRESSED THAT THEIR INCREASED OFF-TAKE WAS
QUITE UNRELATED TO THE BRITISH OFFER.
WILSON
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