VII.
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
CONFIDENTIAL
grammar
of line?
50.
Vietnamese refugees continued to arrive in Hong Kong, although
the "closed centre"
centre" policy, which
which the continuing flow of arrivals
together wi th the fall in the rate of overseas resettlement had
to adopt, was
compelled the Hong Kong Government reluctantly (agreed) t
The rate of
1985 Her
effective in reducing the size of the influx. resettlement remained disappointingly low. In September Majesty's Government jointly with the Hong Kong Government announced
several measures aimed at reducing the size of Hong Kong's refugee population: Her Majesty's Government would relax its family reunion
criteria to permit some 500 refugees now in Hong Kong camp s to
settle in the United Kingdom; Her Majesty's Government would also
consider accepting further limited numbers from Hong Kong depending
upon the response of other countries and the circumstances at the time; and the Hong Kong Government would be prepared to consider
accepting
number of ethnic Chinese from the camps, but
only as part of an international effort to reduce drastically the size of Hong Kong's refugee population. Her Majesty's Government
would mount a major diplomatic effort to use these decisions to
persuade other countries to offer more resettlement places to Hong
Kong. Meanwhile Her Majesty's Government also announced that
present circumstances do
do not make it possible to abandon the "closed centre policy.
limited a
VIII. SECURITY
་
г
51.
Her Majesty's Government has announced that it will be withdrawing the Second Battalion 7th Gurkha Rifles from Hong Kong in
to
1987, and that the battalion will be disbanded leaving a garrison of
British one
and three Gurkha battalions. This is a reduction
1980 levels.
The Second battalion 7th Gurkha Rifles was raised at
that time as
stop-gap a
measure to deal with increased illegal
Her Majesty's Government, in consultation with the Government, has also announced that it will not be proceeding with the construction
construction of the Kohima
the Kohima Barracks in the New
immigration.
Hong Kong
Territories.
16 -
CONFIDENTIAL
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