FCS/89/169
CONFIDENTIAL
HHOD
PSTM. Movar
Maskene mala Mi Gillmore
Mr
Mr Macven
Mr. Haspel 98 Mr Bothewick
1
Wa
9/8
Mr Crabou, RMD Kiv Griffiths, finance
CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY
Mr Colvin, JOAD
418
1.
Vietnamese Boat People
As Chief Secretary, I wrote to Geoffrey Howe on
6 June agreeing to a discretionary claim on the Reserve
of up to £4.25 million to pay for emergency accommodation for Vietnamese boat people arriving in Hong Kong.
£4 million of this sum was for providing accommodation in a converted barracks at Lei Yue Mun, and the remaining
£0.25 million for the provision of tents.
2. Since then, the situation in Hong Kong has
deteriorated further. Boat people continue to arrive
at the rate of about 1,000 per week and there are now
over 50,000 in Hong Kong. The critical accommodation situation is now getting worse. Emotions in the
territory, aggravated by events in China, are running
very high and you will have seen recent press reports of trouble in the camps. Much of this feeling is directed against Britain. For example, the Prime
Minister recently received four large sacks of
letters from local residents calling for the first asylum policy to be abandoned. The letters
CONFIDENTIAL