CONFIDENTIAL
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Whitehall
SWI
HONG KONG: VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE
1 At the OD(K) meeting on 4 October the Committee concluded that I should take up with you the question of providing additional funds to Hong Kong and Vietnam to assist with resolving the Vietnamese boat people problem in Hong Kong
2.
On 22 May Geoffrey Howe wrote to you explaining that the flood of Vietnamese boat people into Hong Kong was leading to a critical situation and warning that it would in all probability be necessary to come to you for additional funds to help the Hong Kong Government meet the situation. This he did on 2 June when he requested £4.25 m to provide emergency accommodation for 9,000 boat people. In the event, because of extreme local political difficulities in developing the camp originally envisaged, the fact that the flood of Vietnamese boat people was continuing at an alarming rate and an error in the announcement of the amount HMG was to give, £4.5 m was granted in order to provide 23,000 places.
3. I regret that the situation has continued to deteriorate and that it is again necessary to seek additional resources from the reserve. The resources are required in three areas:
(a) £5.6 m to enable the Hong Kong Government to undertake further security and other works to ensure that the emergency accommodation is secure and able to withstand severe weather conditions;
(b) £5 m for assistance to the Vietnamese Government to ensure the success of the non-voluntary repatriation agreement; and
(c) £13 m as 50% of the funding of a new long-term camp on Tai a Chau Island to provide accommodation for the inevitable influx of Vietnamese boat people in spring and summer 1990, and to allow other camps in much needed development areas to be shut down in due course.
ROFAIC