TNAG-1276-FCO40-1626-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 171

R D Clift Esq

конк

Kord. (114).

PALATE.

AB 10sh Fed.

Entr Mr. Gar

for views

T/helter set

Hong Kong Department HKK 24372

F CO

deai

VIETNAMESE REFUGEES

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

23 AUG 1983

DESK OFFICER

INDEX

REGISTRY

PA

Action Taken

BRITISH EMBASSY,

ASUNCIÓN.

12 August 1983

Miss

Pl. Consider. A drejt TK

to HK asking for comments

on there ports?

716-916

fica.

Thank you for your letter of August 3 Before we get into serious talks with the Paraguayan Government could you enlighten me on two points. On the question of cost we are likely to get a more positive response from the Paraguayans if we can say that the refugees would be supported for, say, a year, until their first crops are harvested and that they would not therefore be a burden on the local Government already hard pressed by the economic downturn and this years disastrous flooding.Would the UNHCR or the HKG take this on? Secondly what sort of numbers are we talking about? The group needs to be large enough and selective enough to be cohesive so that it can form its own "colony" as other national groups have done but it should not be so large as to be seen as a threat by their neighbours. My own guess would be about 250 families, say 1000 people in all, but UNHCR must be able to advise on this.

2. Touching on the other points in your letter and that of Alan Mason, I don't think there is any question of the refugees becoming labourers on large foreign owned estates. If precedent is anything to, go by they will be expected to form a self-reliant group, farming land provided by the Government which will also provide access roads and basic buildings for a school etc. They will grow a mixture of cash and subsistence crops, tropical fruits and keep a few animals. Conditions in Eastern Paraguay are not vastly different to those in South East Asia. If they farm cooperatively, as an increasing number of colonies do, they will probably grow soya or sugar. If they farm on a smallholder basis they will probably grow tobacco or cotton. are more successful colonies (eg the Japanese and the Germans (Mennonites)) than unsuccessful ones (the Koreans). It was the bad experience with the latter, who were essentially small traders rather than agriculturalists, which has made the Paraguayans suspicious of Asian refugees and will undoubtedly cause them to seek "guarantees" that the newcomers will settle on the land and stay on it. Do you see any

/possibility

There