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5.
DSR 11C (Revised 5/87)
These countries, in particular the US, Canada and
Australia, are looking to us to give a
to give a lead before
announcing new commitments of their own. They will
expect any commitment to be commensurate with the scale
of the problem and with our special responsibility for
Hong Kong. Anything less would fail to generate the
necessary matching offers.
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
6.
to
There is substantial pressure in Hong Kong for us
make a move. The issue is being seen as an important
test of our commitment to the territory. In this country
there is a significant body of opinion (the voluntary
agencies, Parliament, the media) which believes we should
Internationally, attention is now focussing on
do more.
all aspects of the boat people problem including
resettlement: there are moves within ASEAN to hold an
international conference on the problem next spring.
time is ripe for us to act.
The
1.
In the past one powerful argument against a new
resettlement commitment has been the fear that this would
induce even greater numbers of people to leave Vietnam in
the hope of resettlement in the west. we believe that
our Success in getting across the deterrent message of
the screening/repatriation policy has effectively
eliminated this risk.
8.
We have also carefully considered whether our
reception facilities could deal with an increased flow of
refugees. The voluntary agencies arque that they could