TNAG-1274-FCO40-1624-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 87

CONFIDENTIAL

the order of the day, but Hong Kong officials may have taken

the opportunity to revive their ideas of screening the

arrivals of boat- people to you have sexy from gring

3.

Heat we are asking them for clasticate of the Disnes

Although the 1979 Conference agreed to consider all

boat-people as refugees, it remains the prerogative of

individual states to accept arrivals as refugees or reject

them as illegal immigrants. But you may reassure Moussalli

that as far as Hong Kong is conerned this is a decision that

will be taken here, and that until we advise UNHCR otherwise

he can assume that we shall continue to deal with boat-people

on the basis of the 1979 conference arrangements.

4.

We share Hong Kong's concern that tighter US admissions

criteria have to some extent undermined the consensus on

.

ranted in ho Damme Ame bobmon's

which the handling of boat refugees since 1979 has been based.

But we also agree with your view (para 5) that so far the

closed camp policy has proved in the circumstances a valuable

Howeve deterrent to the continuing outflow. But this is really only

politically defensible because it is sanctioned, albeit '

contre coeur by UNHCR. We see no point in Hong Kong devising

further 'deterrents' for which neither we nor the Americans

can see any political justification, and which are almost

certain to be disowned by UNHCR who

d

1à

we occasionally remind

Hong Kong still have responsibility for resettling those

refugees already in the territory.

5.

3.]

We shall be putting this clearly to Hong Kong when

discussing with them in the coming weeks where we go from

here. But you will have seen from the record of our talks

with Funseth that a consensus seems now to be emerging that

countries of first asylum in the region will have to sit

on

a backlog of anything up to 10-15,000 cases and that this

will be the most effective defensible deterrent to continued

Some form of voluntary repatriation should be

emigration.

liter of $5 Dec

Swana

ang

CONFIDENTIAL

/developed