TNAG-0556-FCO40-651-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-into-othe-1975 — Page 25

E.R.

Confidential.

...a charge upon the/

State either because of a failure to find employment

or because of a desire to complete studies already undertaken.

7.

At the request of the American Government, Ministers have agreed to share the burden of Vietnamese refugees presently awaiting placement. A

token 100 has been agreed with the stipulation that those accepted for

consideration have some tie or former connection with the United Kingdom,

are individually personally acceptable to us and, preferably, have some

knowledge of English. No nominations in this group have so far been

forwarded for consideration.

8. There are at present some 4,500 Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong, the

majority of whom arrived as the result of their rescue from a sinking

coaster by a Danish vessel in the South China Sea'. The Hong Kong author-

ities have now received approval to refuse entry to any further Vietnames

refugees who arrive unless compassionate or medical grounds indicate

otherwise. The Foreign & Commonwealth Secretary is conscious of the

extra burden these refugees place upon the Hong Kong welfare facilities

and he is getting in touch with sympathetic governments on the subject;

in a recent note to the Home Secretary, he points out that our influence

cǹ such governments taking a share of the Hong Kong burden will depend

to some extent on our own attitude to the problem.

9. There is some anxiety on the part of Home Office Finance Department

and of the Treasury that consultation should precede any expenditure of

Central Funds in the context of Vietnamese refugees. An undertaking has

been given that both will be consulted in the event that public funds

might need to be committed to this purpose.

10. The voluntary refugee agencies in this country, under the aegis of

both the British Council for Aid to Refugees and the Standing Conference

Confidential British Organisations....