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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1980
HONG KONG REALISED THE PLIGHT OF OTHER COUNTRIES,
PARTICULARLY THAILAND, HE ADDED.
+ BUT THE EFFORTS MADE AND THE HUMANITY SHOWN IN THIS SMALL OVERCROWDED TERRITORY, ALSO DESERVE RECOGNITION AND IN THE ONLY PRACTICAL WAY POSSIBLE PLEDGES OF RESETTLEMENT.+
+THEY ARE AN INTERNATIONAL PROBLEM, NOT OURS, HE SAID, POINTING OUT THAT HONG KONG STILL HAD 50 PER CENT MORE BOAT REFUGEES THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY OF FIRST ASYLUM.
SIR MURRAY RECALLED THAT LAST YEAR THERE WERE SIGNS THE GENEVA CONFERENCE LAST JULY HAD ACHIEVED ITS IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVES OF PERSUADING THE VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT TO STOP THE ORGANISED OUTFLOW, AND OF SECURING PLEDGES IN MONEY AND RESETTLEMENT PLACES THAT WOULD PROGRESSIVELY RELIEVE TERRITORIES OF FIRST ASYLUM SUCH AS HONG KONG OF THE BURDEN OF THESE REFUGEES.
+IN FACT, IN MARKED CONTRAST TO ASSISTANCE GIVEN BY COUNTRIES OF RESETTLEMENT TO THE COUNTRIES OF ASEAN, ONLY HALF THE REFUGEES WHO WERE HERE LAST OCTOBER HAVE BEEN RESETTLED,+ HE SAID.
SIR MURRAY EXPRESSED HONG KONG'S GRATITUDE FOR THE HELP OF ALL COUNTRIES OF RESETTLEMENT, AND FOR THE WORK DONE BY THE UNHCR AND OUR OWN AND OVERSEAS VOLUNTARY AGENCIES.
+WE ARE PARTICULARLY GRATEFUL FOR THE MAJOR CONTRIBUTION BY THE UNITED STATES, CANADA AND THE UK, HE SAID.
THERE HAVE BEEN ARRIVALS DIRECT FROM VIETNAM, HE NOTED, BUT THE NUMBERS WERE NOT GREAT AND WERE CONSISTENT WITH THE UNDERTAKINGS GIVEN AT GENEVA BY THE VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT.
IN ADDITION, THERE ARE UNDER DETENTION SOME ETHNIC CHINESE WHO ORIGINALLY SOUGHT REFUGE FROM VIETNAM AND WERE RESETTLED IN CHINA, BUT SUBSEQUENTLY MADE THEIR WAY TO HONG KONG.
+ THE CHINESE AUTHORITIES HAVE SHOWN SYMPATHETIC UNDERSTANDING OF THIS PROBLEM, AND THESE PEOPLE ARE GRADUALLY BEING RETURNED TO THEIR PLACES OF RESETTLEMENT, HE SAID.
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