TNAG-1277-FCO40-1627-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 105

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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH

Telephone 01-

HKK 18245/2

RECEIVED T

14 NOV 1283

DESK OFF.CUS

INDEX

2431z pa

Your reference

Action

1183

CE Leeks Esq Security Branch. HONG KONG

Our reference

Date

4 November 1983

CALL BY MR FUNSETH

1. As stated in FCO telno 1103, Funseth, accompanied by Miss Sutter from the US Embassy in London and Mr Paiva from their Mission in Geneva, called here on 2 November. We had a 24-hour session on South-East Asian refugees, about half of which was devoted to Hong Kong. The meeting was chaired by the head of the South-East Asian Department;, Chris Segar (SEAD), David Peate (UND) and I were also present, together with Hayden Philipps and Nick Montgomery-Pott from the Home Office.

2. Funseth started off by giving a brief account of the work of the Refugee Programme Bureau in the State Department (in which he is, as you will know, Purcell's no 2) and the Bureau's relationship to Ambassador Douglas. He then talked about the Honolulu conference and the subjects discussed there and in general terms about how the US now saw the refugee problem.

3.

We then moved on to Hong Kong. I expressed gratitude for the US's major contribution to relieving Hong Kong's burden, and pointed out the importance of them maintaining their level of off-take, both in terms of the proportion this represents of the total and of the lead it gives to other countries. As you requested, I referred to the increasing numbers in Hong Kong since April 1982, to your concern at the US monthly quota not being filled and to your hope. that more effort could be made to shift those who have been in Hong Kong for 2 or more years.

4.

In reply, Funseth made a number of predictable points:

(a) the US had taken more than 50% of those resettled from Hong

Kong. They faced difficulties, eg with Congress, if other countries did not also play their part;

(b) it didn't help that the UK was no longer taking any significant

number;

(c) the levels approved by Congress were a ceiling, not a quota; (d) most of those now reaching Hong Kong were economic immigrants from North Vietnam, and more likely to be judged economic migrants. The 1980 Refugee Act would only allow those with a "well-founded fear of persecution" to be accepted. (He did say, however, that one of the difficulties in this area was that INS officials were obliged to conduct interviews and were not always experienced enough to assess these fears. At least it had now

CONFIDENTIAL

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