TNAG-0556-FCO40-651-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-into-othe-1975 — Page 86

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other governments to help; or to their taking in the residuum which is bound to be small in relation to the total they have

already accepted.

7.

Canada, Australia, New Zealand: The Canadians have agreed to accept a total of 200 from Hong Kong out of a total of 3,000 from all sources. Canada has agreed to accept 2,000 from the United States and might be open to suggestion that they should accept more than 200 from Hong Kong where the administrative and political problems are proportionately worse. The Australians have not

committed themselves to numbers but Senator Will see has announced

se publicly that they will support an international move to resettle the refugees and take a fair share of them. New Zealand have not

so far expressed a view.

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8.

Denmark and Sweden: In view of both Governments' known

views on Vietnam, there must be some doubt as to their willingness to accept refugees. But our case with other governments would be strengthened if we could say that the Danish and Swedish authorities were also being approached about the refugees picked up in their vessels. We also need to explain to the Swedish Government why Hong Kong had to close the door on the refugees from the MS Japan.

Home Office policy:

9.

Clearly a sympathetic attitude by the Home Office will help in our negotiations with other Governments. The Home Secretary announced in Parliament yesterday that he is prepared to accept any Vietnamese in Hong Kong with UK connections but the Home Secretary should be aware of the international considerations making a liberal interpretation of "UK connections"

desirable.

10.

This seems

ODM policy: The ODM has shown signs of reluctance to allocate any of the £250,000 remaining of the £1 million for Vietnamese refugee relief to the refugees in Hong Kong. to be because they regard Hong Kong as a relatively rich developing territory and that the money might better be spent in Vietnam itself. These are arguable propositions: but the main political point is

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