TNAG-1276-FCO40-1626-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 91

disembarkation.

Two of these vessels were flying French flags,

one carrying a Liberian flag, one carrying a Danish flag and one

a British flag.

In summary, Mrs. Lasan then noted that the arrivals of rescued

cases compared with the same period last year come very close to

each other, i.e. 258 last year and 287 this year.

The meeting was asked to refer to the summary sheet on rescued

cases and the following points were raised under this topic:-

-

—

Sea Lionet cases have been submitted to France under the DISERO

scheme through UNHCR's sub-office in Singapore.

There have been no further developments regarding the "Poyang"

cases.

-

-

Regarding refugees who refuse to accept a resettlement offer,

Mr. Leeks said that the Hong Kong Government would take all

necessary action to ensure that such "refusals" are not tolerated.

- Mr. Cummings expressed concern over the difficulties encountered

with the local Philippine Consulate over the issuance of visas

for those who were recently rescued by the U.S. ship calling at

Taiwanese ports.

(5) Arrival/Departure Patterns

Mr. Chuasai informed the meeting that regional arrivals and Hong

Kong arrivals have been decreasing in the past six months. An

example of this is from January to June this year the regional

arrivals dropped to 16,865, however, Hong Kong still has the

highest caseload. In May and June 1982 there were 11,084 compared

to 8,387 of the same period this year. In Hong Kong, from May to

June 1982 there were 2,017 arrivals compared to the same period

this year of 1,302. Mr. Chuasai stated that a breakdown of

ethnic origin of these arrivals between January to June shows 46

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