people coming in.
The influx of refugees from Vietnam must be considered
against that background. But they are a quite séparate
problem. Although the majority of them are ethnic Chinese
most of them unlike those coming from China ão not have
relatives in Hong Kong nor do they want to settle there.
The local people regard them as foreigners and they are
therefore much more difficult to absorb into the community.
Hong Kong has nevertheless accepted over 14,000
refugees from Indo China for permanent resettlement since
1975, and the Hong Kong Government are considering, in
the light of the Geneva conference, what more they can do.
That said, I do not think we can reasonably expect Hong Kong
to absorb more than a small proportion of the 67,000 refugees
now in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement, let alone the tens
of thousands more who may arrive over the next few months.
You may have noticed that Mr Thornton had aletter in
the Daily Telegraph which was very much on the lines of his
letter to you.
In case you have not seen it, I enclose a
copy of a comment on that letter which was published in
the Telegraph on 19 July. It is very much to the point.
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