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Strengthen?
territory has trebled.
4.
Our record of resettlement of Indo-Chinese refugees since 1979
is an honourable one. Our performance on resettlement from Hong
Kong is particularly creditable. But we believe the dramatic
increase in Hong Kong's refugee population calls for a new
initiative, consistent with the efforts we have made in the past.
We think this is necessary in support of the Hong Kong Government,
as a humanitarian response to an otherwise intractable problem and
in the hope of stimulating substantial new commitments from others.
5. A new initiative by the UK cannot guarantee matching offers from
1 elsewhere. But bilateral contacts suggest strongly that we cannot hope for increased commitments from other countries, in particular
the US, Canada and Australia, without giving a lead ourselves. They will expect any commitment to be commensurate with the scale of the problem and with our special responsibility for Hong Kong. Our objective is to stimulate a significantly increased offtake by the
resettlement countries. We believe that an appropriate target would be to aim for up to a doubling of the present rate of offtake. We
aim to achieve this by bilateral contacts with the main
resettlement countries; through multilateral action in the EC and
ASEAN; and through the co-operation of UNHCR. Our contacts with officials in the key countries give grounds for believing that a commitment of the right magnitude by the UK would achieve a
substantial gearing effect.
6. There is substantial pressure in Hong Kong for us to make a move. The issue is being seen as an important test of our
also
commitment to the territory. In this country there is a significant
Poliane to add gute comom the body of opinion which believes we should do more including the voluntary agencies who might be expected to take that view.
Internationally, attention is now focussing on all aspects of the
boat people problem including resettlement: there are moves to hold an international conference on the problem next spring. The time is
ripe for us to act.
7. The Chinese have recently expressed concern that this problem should not be allowed to linger beyond 1997. They will welcome
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