TNAG-0892-FCO40-1102-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 256

CONFIDENTIAL

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22.

NUMBERS OF REFUGEES ACCEPTED INTO THE UK

1.

Excluding the refugees recently accepted from the mv Sibonga.

(943) and Roach Bank (293) the UK has received for resettlement, since

the spring 1975, (or allowed to remain) a total of 2,316 Indo-Chinese

refugees as indicated by the following table:

Vietnamese

Cambodian

Laotian

TOTALS

Allowed to remain

150

136

51

337

UK ties

363

39

160

562

Boat rescues

>

1,147

1,417

1,500 quota >

270

TOTALS

1,930

175

211

2,316

Of the 1,500 quota (1,000 from Hong Kong, 250 from Malaysia and

250 from Thailand) about 1,200 have still to arrive.

are

2. The numbers of refugees coming to this country from the

Sibonga and Roach Bank will be approximately 1,250. In addition, there

/57 refugees in Singapore who were landed there, under the previous

Government's policy, with a guarantee that they will be accepted

into the UK if not resettled elsewhere. There are 41 refugees at

present on board the mv Ashford on the way to Singapore and in

respect of which a similar guarantee will not doubt be required

before they can land. Of the 40 refugees on the Norse Viking

(whose next port of call is Japan) six have indicated that they would

wish to come to the UK, and on the basis of the formula agreed with

the Japanese, we have indicated that we will accept them.

a

3. In sum, the total number of refugees the UK has accepted from

Indo-China since 1975 and to which it is committed to receiving

in the near future, including the Sibonga and the Roach Bank refugees

/and the