TNAG-0880-FCO40-1090-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 96

4:

the Secretary of State raise the matter with Mr Vance.

4. We see difficulties about any such Anglo/American

initiative. The UK is far down the list of countries

involved in resettling Vietnamese Refugees. We have admitted

1,400 Indo-Chinese refugees and have accepted ultimate

responsibility for all refugees rescued by UK-registered ships. In addition, the Home Secretary announced recently that we would admit a further 1,500 Vietnamese refugees. Our ability

to absorb more is severely limited given our commitment to

receiving about 70,000 immigrants a year. Any more prominent

rôle for the UK would undoubtedly lead to pressure on us to

admit more refugees than we could absorb.

5. We should prefer the UN High Commissioner for Refugees

to continue to take the lead in searching for solutions to

this problem. Nevertheless, it would be helpful if the Secretary

of State could mention the problem to Mr Vance and thank him

for US help over Hong Kong's problems. The State Department

have recently told us in confidence that the US will make every

effort to take a further 500 or 600 refugees from Hong Kong.

over the next 6 months. The USA will take some 100,000 Indo-

Chinese refugees altogether in 1979.

6. At the Prime Minister's initiative, the Indo-Chinese

réfugee problem was discussed at Guadeloupe.

No conclusions

were reached.

CONFIDENTIAL