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FOR RESETTLEMENT, HE WONDERED WHETHER THE UK WOULD CONSIDER LAUNCHING A PRIVATE SPONSOR SCHEME, AS IN CANADA. STEPHEN CHEONG SAID THAT LEGCO FACED AN IMPOSSIBLE TAKS IN EXPLAINING TO THE ELECTORATE WHY
THE UK WOULD NOT FACE UP TO ITS RESPONSIBILITIES. ALL THE POLICY DECISIONS, FROM THE 1979 GENEVA CONFERENCE ONWARDS, WHICH HAD GOT HONG KONG INTO THIS PLIGHT, WERE MADE BY THE UK. HUI YIN-FAT WAS WORRIED THAT THE PROBLEM WOULD NOT BE SOLVED BEFORE 1997: WHAT WOULD HAPPEN THEN? MICHAEL CHENG NOTED THAT THE CONDITIONS IN THE PRIME
MINISTER'S LETTER TO LYDIA DUNN INCLUDED ONE ABOUT HOUSING FOR
RESETTLED REFUGEES IN THE UK. BUT THERE WERE HOUSING PROBLEMS WORLDWIDE. THIS PROVISION SEEMED TO HONG KONG PEOPLE TO BE A MARK OF THE UK'S INSICERITY. PAUL CHENG NOTED THAT THE RESETTLEMENT
STATISTICS SHOWED THAT JAPAN HAD NEVER TAKEN MEANINGFUL NUMBERS OF
REFUGEES. COULD SOMETHING BE DONE HERE? A NUMBER OF OTHER SPEAKERS MADE MORE EMOTIONAL, LESS RELEVANT, INTERVENTIONS.
7.
LORD GLENARTHUR EXPLAINED THAT WE WERE OF COURSE AWARE OF OUR
RESPONSIBILITY. BUT THE PROBLEM WAS AN INTERNATIONAL ONE: WE MUST
GET OTHERS TO UNDERSTAND THE NEED TO PLAY THEIR PART. HE UNDERSTOOD
WHY HONG KONG PEOPLE DID NOT LIKE THE CONDITIONALITY OF THE PRIME
MINISTER'S OFFER. THIS WAS DESIGNED AS A LEVER TO ENSURE THE BEST
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE. IT WAS COUPLED WITH A VIGOROUS DIPLOMATIC EFFORT TO GET OTHERS TO DO MORE. THE FIRST SIGNS WERE ENCOURAGING. MEANWHILE, WE WERE TACKLING THE BROADER PROBLEM, FOR EXAMPLE THROUGH PRESSING FOR THE EARLY RETURN OF THE FIRST VOLUNTEERS, WHICH SHOULD
IN TURN LEAD TO MORE PEOPLE VOLUNTEERING TO GO BACK. ON THE ISSUE
OF A PRIVATE SPONSOR SCHEME, MCLAREN EXPLAINED THAT THE VIETNAMESE COMMUNITY IN THE UK WERE NOT PROSPEROUS AND WOULD BE UNLIKELY TO BE ABLE TO AFFORD SUCH A SCHEME. IN RESPONSE TO LATER QUESTIONS, LORD GLENARTHUR REJECTED THE SUGGESTION THAT THE PROBLEM WAS OF THE UK'S MAKING. THERE WERE A GREAT MANY REASONS WHY THE PEOPLE HAD LEFT VIETNAM IN THE FIRST PLACE, NONE OF THEM OF THE UK'S MAKING. MOREOVER, WE HAD CERTAINLY DONE OUR FAIR SHARE IN THE PAST: 13,000 VBPS RESETTLED FROM HONG KONG SINCE 1979. WHAT LEGCO MUST DO WAS TO
HELP THE UK PUT ACROSS THE MESSAGE THAT THE WIDER INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY HAD AN ESSENTIAL PART TO PLAY. PICKING UP OTHER INDIVIDUAL POINTS, HE SAID THAT IT WAS INEVITABLE THAT THE LIBERALISATION OF THE CAMPS WAS CAUSING CONCERN IN HONG KONG. BUT, OTHER THAN FOR INDIVIDUAL EXCEPTIONS, THE POLICY WAS GOING WELL AND WAS CLOSELY MONITORED BY THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT. IT WAS IDLE TO SPECULATE WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF THE PROBLEM WAS UNSOLVED BY 1997: WE HAD TO TACKLE IT ON THE BASIS THAT IT WOULD BE SOLVED BY THEN. HE RECOGNISED THAT HOUSING PROBLEMS IN THE UK WERE NOT OF THE SAME ORDER AS IN HONG KONG. BUT THEY WERE REAL ONES NONETHELESS, WHICH
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