TNAG-0792-FCO40-996-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1978 — Page 133

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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2A11

12 September 1978

STRY KO. 51

JP Tripp Esq CMG

18 SEP 1978

BANGKOK

Yes

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VIETNAMESE REFUGEES

/N.T.

1. Thank you for your letter of 21 August.

2. I take your point that very careful consideration indeed will need to be given to the question of any help we may be able to offer over the resettlement of Vietnamese refugees. Apart from the problem in Malaysia and Thailand, we have to consider the very special case of Hong Kong where there are now over 3,500 "small boat" refugees in urgent need of resettlement. The Colony has, as it were, been penalised because of its liberal attitude towards the reception of refugees.

Since Hong Kong, unlike many other territories in the region, does not demand guarantees (of resettlement) from countries whose ships arrive at its port with refugees aboard, the main countries of final asylum (the USA and others) appear to be concentrating their efforts on receiving for resettlement those refugees who have been put ashore at other ports where the authorities are less flexible in their approach to the problem and have been demanding guarantees of third countries: you will have seen Ian Orr's letter to me of 22 August.

3. We are now discussing with the Home Office what, if any, further steps we can take to help over the "small boat" refugees and shall keep you informed. An important factor we have to take account of here is the constraints (physical and financial) on the British voluntary agencies who are responsible for the reception of refugees. Apart from this, the Home Office do not like quotas and, as you know, we already have an open-ended commitment with regard to refugees rescued by UK registered shipping.

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