TNAG-0792-FCO40-996-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1978 — Page 136

CONFIDENTIAL

179

布政司 署

香港下亞

畢道

** OUR REF.: CR 2/4821/75 V

來函檔號 YOUR REF.:

GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT

LOWER ALBERT ROAD

HONG KONG

7 September, 1978

P Morgan Esq

United Nations Department

F CO

ING

HKK 243/1

13 SEPI978

REFUGEES FROM VIETNAM IN HONG KONG

No

There was a good turn out at the meeting which I held here on 5 September to ask representatives from selected missions here to urge their governments to provide more places for refugees from Vietnam who have arrived in Hong Kong. All 15 missions we approached came, most being represented by their head of mission. Sampat kumar from the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur also attended. It will be some time no doubt before we see whether this approach produces any positive results. The Norwegian and Swiss missions have already indicated that they expect their governments will be able to continue to offer a small number of places. Sampatkumar has spoken to a number of missions during his visit, notably Australia and France. We are grateful for the help provided by UKMIS Geneva (your telegram No. 676 and UKMIS telegrams Nos. 699 and 706 para. 1).

2.

We understand why you are reluctant to ask posts in other capitals to take supporting action (your telegram No.676 para.2). However, we hope you will bear in mind the fact that presentationally it would be right for the UK to take some credit for the contribution made by Hong Kong through the policy we have maintained on landing refugees and the numbers who have been settled here. We have always taken Ministerial interest in the plight of the refugees into full account in looking at the options open to us. We therefore feel entitled to expect as much help as possible from the UK in tackling a problem which is partly caused by our own generosity.

The meeting produced a number of questions about the UK's contribution and we naturally referred to the group of 61 who will shortly be leaving as well as to the UK's financial contributions towards the UNHCR's special programme for Indo- China refugees. We should be grateful for up-to-date figures on the numbers of Indo-Chinese refugees accepted by the UK, broken down into land and boat cases by country of origin and of first asylum, including figures for those who have been

3.

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