TNAG-1274-FCO40-1624-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 97

CONFIDENTIAL

their representatives. Nevertheless, the US Government would try

to maintain a relatively high level of refugee immigration for the

next few years. At the same time, they hoped that continuing

departures from Indo-China could be deterred by such means as

publicly closing admission to Category 6 candidates (those with no

connection at all with the US), through the policies of the Thai

Government and through closed camps in Hong Kong. In addition, the Orderly Departure Programme would act as a safety valve to a certain

extent. At present there were 140,000 refugees in Thailand which

might be reduced to 100,000 at which point he considered that some

form of local resettlement might be possible. They would also

be maintaining pressure on Cambodia to accept some form of repatriation

eventually.

3. Turning to the Honolulu Conference, Mr Funseth explained that

the Japanese, Canadians, Australians and UNHCR had attended, though

the French had not wanted to represent Europe alone and had declined.

The agenda had concentrated on current resettlement rates, numbers of

refugees in camps in the area,

camps in the area, the ODP and regional refugee programmes such as UNBRO and the anti-piracy campaign. The results had been

modest though Japan's decision to raise her ceiling from 3,000 to

5,000 was valuable, and Conferences of this kind would be helpful vis a vis UNHCR and in persuading countries with smaller programmes to

persevere or to do more.

4.

Mr Hartland-Swann said that the United Kingdom saw the situation

in a similar light. We appreciated the importance of pursuing the mix

of policies. The current flow of refugees was unlikely to stop com-

pletely and it was unrealistic to expect the instant resettlement of

the backlog of refugees in regional states. At the same time, we had

to accept that repatriation, which had to be voluntary, would always

be difficult. The UK, as Mr Funseth would know, had encountered

difficulties over resettlement. The numbers were quite substantial,

costs were high and unemployment was running at over 80% of the adult

population. In addition, the Government had to be attentive to

strong anti-immigration lobbies.

5. On Hong Kong's particular problems, Mr Hoare said that the

authorities were extremely grateful for the continuing American

contribution to managing their refugee problem. The importance of

this contribution and the influence it had on the attitude of other

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countries