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plan for the following fiscal year beginning from 1st October was that funds would be doubled and 120,000 refugees would be accepted. For the remainder of this fiscal year (up to 30th September), he was seeking supplementary provision because funds would soon be depleted due to the very high number of refugees accepted so far.
6.
Sir
Ambassador Clark said that although his visit would not result in any drastic change in policy, it would help his Government to assess priorities and to deal with the problem as effectively as possible. He promised that he would adopt a flexible approach to the allocation of quotas. If Hong Kong was to get more refugees for the rest of this year than, say, Malaysia, he would adjust the programme accordingly. However, he said that he was under considerable pressure from Congress to accept more of the 150,000 land refugees in Thailand. Jack said that Hong Kong also had a similar problem in that during the last 16 months alone, there had been about 175,000 legal and illegal immigrants from China. Ambassador Clark asked whether the United Kingdom could accept more refugees from Hong Kong. Sir Jack replied that nearly all refugees stated the United States as their first preference and that the United Kingdom was one of the three countries which had an on- going programme to take in refugees.
7.
Dr. Wilson asked whether the United States would accept those refugees who had come in boats along the Chinese coast or who had spent a short time in China before they came to Hong Kong. Ambassador Clark said that such persons would not be excluded from the United States' programme, and all refugees who reached Hong Kong by boat would, in principle, be accepted. However, he felt that some decision must be taken by UNHCR as to how these people should be classified so as to facilitate their departures from Hong Kong. UNHCR appeared to be worried about the 200,000 from Vietnam already in China. Dr. Wilson further voiced his concern over the temporary cut-back in the promised departure rate to the United States from 750 to 400 a month, whereas some neighbouring countries were getting a proportionately lower reduction. Ambassador Clark promised that this matter would be looked into.
8.
Ambassador Clark thanked the Hong Kong Government for this briefing which he considered to be most useful.
Security Branch,
Government Secretariat,
Hong Kong.
2nd May 1979
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