USR 11 Revised Sept 85)
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The Rt Hon John Major MP
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
House of Commons
LUNDUCTSWIA OAA
VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE IN HONG KONG
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I am writing to inform you of the serious crisis in
Hong Kong as a result of the rapid increase in the
numbers of Vietnamese boat people arriving there. The
situation is without precedent, for reasons which I
describe below, and is likely to get a lot worse before
it gets better. This will almost certainly mean that the
Government will be faced with additional and inescapable
funding requirements and it will be necessary for me
come to you, possibly at short notice, for extra
resources from the Reserve.
Enclosures flag(s)
The present position (as on 19 May) is that there are
now over 35,000 boat people in Hong Kong and more are
arriving at an average rate of 300 per day. of those,
some 14,000 have refugee status and are awaiting
resettlement. The vast majority of people in this
category arrived in Hong Kong before 16 June 1988, when,