TNAG-0879-FCO40-1089-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 106

COM

UNFDERT

GRS 450

CONFIDENTIAL

FLONG KONG 221135Z JAN 79

TO IMMEDIATE F C O

HKK 243.11..

No Joel CHE

TELEGRAM NUMBER 152 OF 22 JANUARY AND TO IMMEDIATE BUENOS AIRES, CANBERRA, VIENNA, BRUSSELS, BRASILIA, OTTAWA, COPENHAGEM, PARIS, BONN, DUBL, ROME, TOKYO,

THE HAGUE, WELLINGTON, OSLO, STOCKHOLM, BERE, WASHINGTON. INFO IMMEDIATE UKMIS GENEVA, HONG KONG GOVERNMENT OFFICE LONDON. INFO ROUTINE KUALA LUMPUR, SINGAPORE, JAKARTA, MANILA, BANGKOK,

PEKING.

See (196

INFO SAVING HANOI.

189 MY TELNO 141 (NOT TO ALL): RESETTLEMENT OF VIETNAMESE BOAT

REFUGEES.

208

(195

1. THE POLITICAL ADVISER SPOKE TODAY TO ALL THE LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES

OF POTENTIAL RECIPIENT COUNTRIES, THE MEETING WAS ALSO ATTENDED BY MOUSSALLI, UNHCR DIRECTOR OF PROTECTION, WHO IS VISITING HONG KONG, AND THE LOCAL UNHCR REPRESENTATIVES FROM HONG KONG AND KUALA LUMPUR.

2. POLITICAL ADVISER FIRST OUTLINED THE REASONS FOR OUR POLICY

TOWARDS THE HUEY FONG. HE THEN SAID THAT, WITH THE ARRIVAL OF THE HUEY FONG, THERE WAS NOW A TOTAL OF 9,670 PEOPLE ORIGINALLY FROM VIETNAM WISHING TO BE RESETTLED FROM HONG KONG. OF THESE, 3,771 WERE ALREADY UNDER UNHCR CARE. THE REMAINDER WERE EITHER UNDER DETENTION OR BEING PROCESSED TO DETERMINE THEIR STATUS. THIS LATTER GROUP INCLUDED A LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO

WERE SUSPECTED OF CONING HERE AFTER SPENDING SOME TIME IN CHINA (WE DO NOT WISH TO REFER PUBLICLY TO THE PRECISE SIZE OF THIS GROUP SINCE WE ARE STILL ATTEMPTING TO DISCUSS WITH THE CHINESE THE RETURN OF SOME OF THEM).

2. POLITICAL ADVISER THEN SAID THAT THESE NUMBERS HAD TO BE SEEN IN CONTEXT. FIRST, THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE COMING FROM VIETNAM

HAD BEEN INCREASING RAPIDLY AND SHOWED EVERY SIGN OF CONTINUING TO DO SO. AT THE END OF 1977, 585 REFUGEES WERE AWAITING RESETTLEMENT. DURING 1978, OVER 5,000 NEW REFUGEES ARRIVED. ONLY ABOUT ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED HAD BEEN RESETTLED DURING THAT PERIOD. SECONDLY, THE NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS FROM CHINA, LEGAL AND ILLEGAL, HAD INCREASED MARKEDLY OVER THE PAST YEAR. THE TOTAL WAS

OVER 100,000.

CONFIDENTIAL

14.

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