TNAG-0884-FCO40-1094-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 123

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No

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UNITED KINGDOM MISSION

30/45

37-39 RUE DE VERMONT

1211 GENEVA 20

TELEPHONE 34 38 00

33 23 85

Sir Murray MacLehose Esq GBE KCMG KCVO

Governor

HONG KONG

20 April 1979

N Williamson

Murray

8. 2914

VIETNAMESE REFUGEES:

HONG KONG

651

1。 Having seen Davies' letter of 7 April I was on the point of making an appointment to see Poul Hartling, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to discuss Hong Kong affairs with him when he invited me to call urgently. I did so yesterday. Hartling's purpose was to discuss with me his pre-occupations about the situation in Hong Kong. Since he referred to you most warmly, and clearly hoped for your personal intervention in helping him cope with his problems, I am on this occasion writing to you directly.

2. Hartling was well aware from his own people of the latest figures, but I read to him those contained in your telno. 452. He admitted that an increase in small-boat refugees from Vietnam was likely, a view I confirmed from our own reports from Hanoi. He professed complete understanding of the Hong Kong predicament and admiration for the way in which the authorities were coping. He said that his organisation would do their utmost to help Hong Kong over the boat refugees; he expected that they would continue to find re-settlement places for 1,000 a month.

ろ。

But it was the ethnic Chinese who had gone from Vietnam to China that most worried him. He estimated the total at between 150,000 and 200,000. Of these some 8,000, having spent periods of anything between 2 weeks and 9 months in China, had gone on to Hong Kong and were "in detention" there. Strictly speaking they were not refugees as they had voluntary left China, their first country of asylum, and technically therefore UNHCR were not responsible for them. UNHCR were prepared to take responsibility for proven family reunification cases but not for the whole category. The US Consul-General in Hong Kong had made it clear that his government would not accept these people for re-settlement. Hartling was unaware whether the Americans had given a specific reason, but possibly it was because they were reluctant to run the risk of encouraging the remainder to leave China. UNHCR were not hiding behind the principle of the country of first asylum but if they were to accept overall responsibility they would have to set up and administer camps on a permanent basis at great expense to the international community for which UNHCR would have to seek

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