TNAG-1419-FCO40-1902-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-Sub-Committee-on-Race-Relations-and--1985 — Page 102

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CONFIDENTIAL

SECRETARY OF STATE'S BILATERAL WITH MR SHULTZ: 26 SEPTEMBER 1985

SECRETARY OF STATE'S VISIT TO CANADA: 27-28 SEPTEMBER 1985

Vietnamese Refugees in Hong Kong

Essential Facts

Statistics

1. 10,500 Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement.

60% have been there over 3 years.

Arrival rate has slowed since

introduction of closed camp policy, but flow nevertheless continues.

Report of Home Affairs Sub-Committee on Race Relations and

Immigration (SCORRI)

A Home Office White Paper in response to SCORRI's report on

"Refugees and Asylum with Special Reference to the Vietnamese" will

2.

be published on 26 September, the day of the Secretary of State's

meeting with Mr Shultz. It will announce inter alia:

(i) HMG's decision to accept for resettlement some 500 refugees who

have relatives in the UK but who would normally fall outside

the Home Office's immigration criteria for family reunion

cases. (Most of these are in camps in Hong Kong, but a few

will come from other places of first asylum in South East

Asia);

(ii) that, depending on the willingness shown by other resettlement countries to respond to Hong Kong's needs, HMG are prepared to

consider accepting further limited numbers from Hong Kong. The

Hong Kong Government would similarly be prepared to absorb

limited numbers into Hong Kong from the camps, but again this

will depend on other countries' response to the UK's

initiative.

CONFIDENTIAL