TNAG-0792-FCO40-996-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1978 — Page 109

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umbers of refugees now in Hong Kong. At present

there are over 3,600 awaiting resettlement. While a

number of countries, notably the USA, have been

accepting refugees this has not been at a rate fast

enough to keep pace with the influx. This is despite

the setting-up by the United States authorities of

overspill facilities in Macao. Unless some solution

can be found to this problem there remains the

possibility that the Hong Kong Government will be

forced to adopt a more restrictive stance.

3. It is in any case inevitable that a number of the

refugees already in Hong Kong will not be accepted

To try

for resettlement elsewhere and will have to be allowed

to remain in Hong Kong. This may well cause some

public opposition since the Hong Kong Government

maintains a strict policy of repatriating would-be

illegal immigrants from China, many of whom have

family connections with Hong Kong residents.

and alleviate this problem, the Home Office earlier .

this year agreed to accept into the UK 61 refugees

from Hong Kong who could not be resettled elsewhere.

The number, although small, represented some 25% of

the total number of refugees who were unlikely to be

resettled at the time the offer was made. Consideration

is now being given to accepting a larger group - Once

a decision on this has been made we would hope to

approach other countries in an attempt to obtain

similar assistance from them.

4.

Relations between the Hong Kong Government and the

UNHCR are excellent and the UNHCR representatives in

the area pay frequent visits to Hong Kong. They have been particularly helpful in arranging accommodation

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