HKR 026/10
....
Mr Clift, Hong Kong & General Dept.
cc:
Mr Elliott, FED
Mr Donald or.
Redacted
Enter i
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04all
under FOI exemption section 27(1)
CALL ON THE LORD PRIVY SEAL BY SIR PHILIP HADDON-CAVE
1.
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912 fas Ala
Sir Philip Haddon-Cave called on the Lord Privy Seal for half an hour today.
37
Vietnamese
Cambodian Refugees
3. Sir Philip Haddon-Cave expressed concern about Cambodian Vietnames refugees in Hong Kong. He accepted that in the end there would be a residue who would have to become permanent Hong Kong residents. It was hard to define exactly when that residue existed. The inflow of refugees remained greater than the outflow. The particular political problem for Hong Kong was that the natural rate of growth of the Hong Kong population was about equal to the influx of legal immigrants from China, which would be unlikely to stop. One new particular class of immigrants (even if the numbers involved were relatively insignificant) focussed attention on one of Hong Kong's main problems and created/disproportionate amount of local criticism. Speaking entirely personally he acknowledged that Hong Kong would have to continue its policy of passive acceptance of Cambodia refugees. But he was becoming seriously attracted by changing the open-camp policy to the use of closed camps. He Saw two advantages:
a)
this would help to define the. 'residue'
b) this would act as a disincentive to potential Vietnamese Cambodian refugees.
an
The simple fact was that Hong Kong remained/agreeable and attractive magnet for people throughout South Asia.
4.
The Lord Privy Seal said that there was no prospect of an increase in the UK quota. He thought it particularly important that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees should take a leading role in
CONFIDENTIAL
/persuading
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