TNAG-0971-FCO40-1190-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-in-the-UK-1980 — Page 183

E.R.

the refugees are settled. In this resettlement stage there is

again a need for a constructive partnership, this time between local government and the voluntary sector.

Given this substantial degree of interdependence it is all the more

appropriate to use this occasion to examine in a critical

-

as well as a congratulatory sense - how the Vietnamese refugee

programme is now proceeding.

Progress with Vietnamese refurce programme

First, how are we coping with the numbers involved? It is not

generally realised that in 1970 about 5,000 Vietnamese came to

this country. Many of these came from the boat rescues by the

"Sibonga" and the "Roachbank" and from the quota of 1,500 agroed

to by the last Government; 2,000, however, came from the 10,000

quota which we agreed at the Genova Conference. In the first

three months of this year, I gather that the arrivals from ·

Hong Kong seen likely to total comething over 1,000. As at the

end of Harch, therefore, there will be about 3,500 refugees, still

to come.

I want to emphasise that the Government would like to

see these refugees brought to this country just as soon as it ic practicable to do so with the present reception centro

/accommodation at