TNAG-0971-FCO40-1190-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-in-the-UK-1980 — Page 35

I R.

CONFIDENTIAL

K

This takes account of an offer of 200 more houses from the GLC but they are

no likely to be made available very quickly and the voluntary bodies fear that

other offers may gradually dry up. This would affect the rate of movement out

of reception centres and significantly increase the costs of the reception

programme in 1981/82.

Possibility of a further quota

5. At a meeting with the Home Secretary on 6 November the Governor of Hong Kong proposed that the UK should accept a further quota of not more than 5,000 refugees. His immediate concern was that the Government should not give a

negative response at this stage. The Home Secretary indicated that he saw

considerable difficulties in the UK accepting a further commitment. The matter

was in any case one for Cabinet. The arguments against a further quota are both

political and practical: there is a shortage of housing offered even for the

present quota; local authorities are under severe financial restraint at a time

rising unemployment, to take another quota could cause resentment against the

refugees which might call into question the contribution already being made; and

there is no financial provision for the substantial extra costs that would be

involved. The Home Secretary agreed, however, to discuss the matter with the

Foreign Secretary and said that he would not oppose a further quota if his

colleagues wished to accept one; his view, however, was that his colleagues

would not agree to this additional commitment. The interim line agreed with the

Governor was that, if asked about the possibility of a further quota, the

Government would indicate that it was concentrating on completing its existing

programme and, if pressed, say that it was keeping the situation under review.

6. Since then, the Home Secretary has written to the Foreign Secretary drawing

his attention to the outcome of the meeting and undertaking to put the Hong Kong

case to his colleagues in due course if Lord Carrington considered that the

Governor's anxieties about significant numbers of refugees being left in Hong

Kong looked like being realised. In such circumstances, however, the Home

Secretary would be bound to express his serious reservations about the advis-

CONFIDENTIAL

/ability

...

: