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TRANSCRIPT D: HONG KONG SELECT COMMITTEE MEETING 22 MAR 89
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FOREIGN SECRETARY!
As I understand it, the process obviously started off slowly
with limited resources and limited experience.
The expectation
The Goverzor
is that it will speed up, as indeed it has been doing, as the
procedures become well-established and understood.
may be able to tell you more precisely the tempo on that, but it
certainly is getting faster.
K. LESTER
Are you surprised that only 84 out of
1,088 so far screened
have been granted refugee status?
FOREIGN SECRETAKÝ :
No. I think that is about the conclusion that one would
have expected because the people who began coming in at the end of
1987 and throughout 1988 were different from those who had come
They were not, so it seemed, fulfilling obvious refugee
they were farmers, fishermen, not fleeing from
before.
criteria
persecution but looking for a better economic prospect, and that is why the problem developed in such a different form with this
fresh upsurge.
MR. LESTER:
This is not the place to pursue how we improve the economic
prospects of Viet Bam, Mr. Chairman, so I am happy to leave that.