TNAG-1274-FCO40-1624-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 69

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VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG: BRITISH REFUGEE COUNCIL ASIA COMMITEEE, 20 DECEMBER 1983

come up.

(179)

1 I went as usual yesterday as an observer to the (quarterly) meeting of the Asia Committee of the British Refugee Council. Both Dr Barber, the Director of BRC who was in Hong Kong in November, and Lord Ennals, Chairman of the Asia Committee who returned from Hong Kong last week, spoke at some length about the conditions of Vietnamese refugees there.

£3, 2 As you know, Lord Ennals and Dr Barber and a few members of the Committee are due to call on Mr Luce next month to discuss S E Asia

refugee matters. The meeting decided on 10 January**from the dates offered for the call) and to concentrate on Hong Kong (as well as aid to Vietnam and Cambodia, which I shall cover elsewhere). On Hong Kong they will have with them representatives of Save the Children Fund and Ockendon Venture.

3

Dr Barber made six main points:

(i) He was well able to understand the concern of the Chinese public in Hong Kong over the 13,000 refugees even though by current world standards this was a pretty small number. It was still difficult for the Chinese to see why their Government should appear to give prefential treatment to Vietnamese boat people over some, including their relatives, who were trying to come in from PRC.

(ii) He was aware that it was HMG who prevented Hong Kong considering forcible repatriation. To that extent, the continued presence of boat people was a policy ''wished on them by the FCO'' (!); and in the circumstances UK voluntary agencies should consider doing as much as they can for the refugee problem there.

He

(iii) He was however quite clear that a new UK quota was out of the question. He would therefore still want the Committee to consider pressing the Home Office on the possibility of admitting some from ''vulnerable groups'' and of extending the family reunion criteria. did though suggest that Hong Kong officials had in mind that this sort of additional offer from the UK could best be presented as contingent on other resettlement states taking a similar, or indeed larger, number themselves. Lord Ennals subsequently confirmed that US, French and Australian Consuls whom he had met in Hong Kong, had made it quite clear that they could get no more from their Governments until the UK did more too. This point is likely to come up during the call on Mr Luce and I shall draft the brief to cover it. At the same time, I was interested to note that Dr Barber seemed quite aware that Governments of other resettlement states might well not be able to deliver on any contingency proposal, and in any case might be tempted to take the line 'that now that the UK was again doing its share they could do less.

(iv) Dr Barker seemed also quite sensitive to the argument that any substantial off-loading of open camp cases still risked reviving the outflow of refugees who would in effect replace those who had left.

* vished on hom? Het or bustie Rebryce (mail?

** now arranged for 11 Jan, 4.15.pm

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RECEIVED IN REGÍSTHY

23 DEC 1983

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