TNAG-1420-FCO40-1903-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-Sub-Committee-on-Race-Relations-and--1985 — Page 46

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4. Depending on the response by others,

we would consider accepting

to the family

further limited numbers from Hong Kong in addition to reunion cases. Hong Kong would similarly be prepared to consider absorbing into Hong Kong a limited number of refugees from the camps there, provided this formed part of a concerted international effort to reduce drastically the size of Hong Kong's refugee population.

Closed camp s

5.

(Defensive) Regret that present circumstances do not make it possible to accept Select Committee's recommendation that closed

Decline since 1982 in rate at which camp policy be discontinued. Vietnamese have arrived in Hong Kong, compared with that for South East Asian region as a whole, is almost certainly due to closed camp policy. In HMG's view, abolition of the policy would cause sharp rise in level of arrivals, and consequently an unmanageable rise in the camp population in Hong Kong.

CONFIDENTIAL