TNAG-0906-FCO40-1116-Immigration-from-China-to-Hong-Kong-1979 — Page 184

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Now, with Mr Hartling, it was a time, though old

friend as he is, for quite firm speaking,

or

The situation is that of the 57,000 Vietnamese refugees who have arrived here, the U.N. High Commissioner has been able to accept respons- ibility for only 14,000 and to process only about seven

How can Now, this simply is not good enough.

we hope eight. for peoplo to be resettled if they haven't even been processed by the High Commissioner? However, in principle he ought to

in the care be taking playing as large a part as he can and maintenance of these people. He explained frankly that his staff here was inadequate and his funds for his total worldwide programme are inadequate and I haven't the slightest But he did promise to increase doubt this is completely true.

but he promised to

...

he'd already increased his staff here increase it further and to adopt a crash programme for registering

So I hope and processing the numbers that had accumulated. something will come out of that soon.

With regard to future arrangements with him, I think these will have to wait until we see what comes out of this conference which, hopefully, will pledge both money and resett- lement places and it is really only in the light of those pledges that we can decide what is reasonable to expect from U.N. High Commissioner.

the

After Geneva we went back for a quick round-up in London which included a talk with the Hong Kong Parliamentary Group,

That really was chaired by Paul Bryan.

great pleasure; it was a little rare for the a standing-room only occasion which is House of Commons committees and I think I must have addressed

more and it s the only time I that group half-a-dozen times or

It's the haven't heard a single critical word about Hong Kong. only time there has been universal praise for what was being done here - clearly they were stirred by Hong Kong's reaction to the double stream of immigrants from China and refugees from Vietnam and the way we had stood up to it and the part we

that a successful playing in trying to move world opinion so conference to solve the refugee problem will be set up.

>

were

I also, incidentally, had a short talk with Mr Peter Shore who, you may remember visited us 4 or 5 years ago and es Secretary for Trade in the U.K. was probably rather more sympathetic' than most towards Hong Kong, and as Minister for the Environment a great admirer of our housing programme, is now shadow Foreign Secretary,

a short talk with him

SO I had

but

are recei

I do very much hope that the support that we in the U.K. will stay bi-partisan. It would be thoroughly

a party matter. And at this inappropriate for it to become Parliamentary Group it was apparent that support was even from both parties and I hope it stays so.

For one reas:

So this really brings me more or less to the end of this saga.

Of our objectives, we have achieved more troops whic will be of considerable hep to the garrison here. or another, world interest and focus in this refugee problem is growing growing rather fast and this is absolutely essential

/contd