TNAG-1273-FCO40-1623-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 128

CONFIDENTIAL

2

DSR 11C

Last

accept dependants for refugees on a family reunion basis

will

and consider all cases of those rescued by UK shipping.

A

But UK is not a favoured destination;

resettlement has not

been a success and in current circumstances we could not

take

agree to the additional refugees.

5. Other resettlement opportunities have also declined.

The US are now taking far fewer (?100 a month) from

Hong Kong and claim privately that many arrivals do not

qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention. If another

7,000+ reach there in this summer's S W Monsoon, numbers

could rise sharply from the present 12,500. When questioned

publicly in Hong Kong, officials have been careful not to

rule out the possibility of some form of repatriation.

about

We are now considering at the Governor's request the

possibility of approaching the Vietnamese on the

guarantees of non-reprisal so that from a certain date

the 'economic migrants' among the boat-people can be sifted

woul

out and returned to Hanoi.

News that we were

ing this

Word of these consideration

will be very sensitive for ASEAN memebrs who have been

pressed to treat all boat-people as refugees and refer them

to UNHCR for resettlement.