XN000022-1988-04-19 — Page 31

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TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1988

BY

BUT

H.E.; WHAT AT THE MOMENT WE ARE LOOKING AT IS ARRANGEMENTS WHICH NEW ARRIVALS WHO WERE NOT DEFINED OR DECIDED TO BE REFUGERS WERE SOMETHING ELSE LIKE RCONOMIC MIGRANTS COULD BE RETURNED IN THE SAME WAY AS YOU WOULD RETURN AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT FROM ANYWHERE ELSE. IT IS TO MY MIND VERY ODD, TO PUT IT AT ITS MILORST, THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM IS NOT AT THE MOMENT PREPARED TO CONTEMPLATE THAT. ANY OTHER GOVERNMENT WOULD BE PREPARED TO AND WOULD ACCEPT THIS AS A NORMAL PART OF LIFE. WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THOUGH IS NEW ARRIVALS, NOT THE PEOPLE WHO ARE HERE AT THE MOMENT.

POSITIONS WILL

DAN BIERS: BUT IF YOU CAN'T FIND ENOUGH RESETTLEMENT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO ARE HERE, DOES THAT MEAN THAT EVENTUALLY THEY BE BROUGHT INTO HONG KONG SOCIETY?

H.E.: IT MEANS THAT WE HAVE A PROBLEM WHICH WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH IN SOME WAY. THE OTHER PART OF THE POLICY I WAS SAYING WAS то TRY TO MAKE SURE THAT RESETTLEMENT DOES GO ON. I MEAN WE WOULD LIKE TO RESETTLE ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE HERE. WE HAVE OUR OWN RESETTLEMENT PROGRAMME IN HONG KONG RUNNING AT A RATE OF ABOUT, PLACES OFFERED ABOUT 20 A MONTH, BUT WE DO FIND, INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, THAT MOST OF THE REFUGEES DO NOT WANT ΤΟ SETTLE HERE, THEY ARE

WANTING TO GO ON ELSEWHERE.

ROBERT COTTRELL, FROM THE INDEPENDENT: SIR DENYS ROBERTS SPECULATED THAT THE RIGHT OF APPEAL то THE PRIVY COUNCIL MIGHT TERMINATE IN 1992. IS THAT THE GOVERNMENT'S INTENTION?

H.B.: IT WILL TERMINATE BEFORE 1997 OR PERHAPS I COULD REPHRASE THAT; AFTER 1997 THE FINAL COURT OF APPEAL WILL BE IN HONG KONG. IT WOULD THEREFORE MAKE SENSE TO BRING IN THAT CHANGE BEFORE 1997 80 THAT PEOPLE WOULD GET USED TO IT AND THE LEGAL SYSTEM WOULD GET USED TO IT. NO PRECISE DATES AT THE MOMENT BUT DURING THE 1990'S, SUFFICIENTLY IN ADVANCE OF 1997, SO THAT THE LEGAL SYSTEM AND JUDICIARY CAN GET USED TO IT IS THE AIM OF THE GOVERNMENT.

H.E.: THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

THE