CONFIDENTIAL
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should like to be able to say, subject to your concurrence, that the UK would, with other countries, agree to consider admitting to Britain a further small quota of refugees as part of any extra commitment to be shared by the international community following the establishment of the island processing centre; we would add that we would not expect refugees on the island to be allowed to queue jump ahead of those already awaiting resettlement from existing camps in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand. It seems neither possible nor desirable to be more precise than this until we have a better idea of which of the options set out in para 6A(iii) of the UNHCR's paper are likely to find favour.
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I realise that any eventual decision on further admissions of Indo-Chinese refugees to Britain, beyond what we are doing at present, will require collective ministerial consultation in advance, but I hope you could agree, at this stage, to our using the formula I have proposed. We do not dispute that any British association, however limited, with the island proposal is likely, in the longer term at any rate, to increase the pressure on us to admit further groups of refugees; but we believe equally that, if the proposal gets off the ground - as seems increasingly likely then the UK cannot completely stand aside.
Finance
9 Any financial help Britain might offer towards the cost of establishing and running a centre is something for the ODM to consider: we are grateful for the considered comments in Vic McGee's letter of 15 February to Pat Morgan. We should like to tell the UNHCR that the government would in principle be prepared to consider sympathetically making financial contributions commensurate with the normal level of our contributions and with the need and number of refugees to be housed in the centre, but that our consideration of this would need to be based on practical and concrete proposals: there is no call to make any more specific commitment to finance the centre, or any part of it, at this stage. If the ODM (to whom I am copying this letter and enclosures) could agree to the formula above, or offer a better alternative, we should be most grateful.
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I should also welcome any further more general comments you may have on the proposal. I am not sure whether the Treasury need be brought into the picture at this stage, but may I leave this to you and to the ODM to decide?
Col
yous en
Michal Simpsons
TIAL
MK O Simpson-Orlebar United Nations Department
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