Government have also declared their preparedness, on the same conditions, to resettle a limited number of Vietnamese refugees from the closed camps into Hong Kong itself. Your staff will be able to provide you with further details of the situation, and of the approaches which we have recently made to the US Government in this regard. We have of course also approached other traditional resettlement countries, and have had very encouraging responses from Australia, Canada and some European countries. The UNHCR has warmly endorsed our initiative.
We are very conscious of the generosity which the United States has shown in recent years towards South East Asian refugees, and grateful for the sizeable numbers which the US Government has already accepted from Hong Kong. We understand the pressures on the US Resettlement Program, and the claims of other countries of first asylum. Unfortunately, our efforts to explore the possibility of other solutions to Hong Kong's problem, such as voluntary repatriation, have foundered on the unresponsiveness and lack of interest of the Vietnamese Government. For the foreseeable future, therefore, we see no alternative to resettlement as the means of alleviating Hong Kong's pressing problems. A concrete response from the US would immeasureably enhance our ability to attract help from elsewhere.
I know that your Consulate General in Hong Kong reports very fully and helpfully on Hong Kong refugee matters, but I am sure that you and your colleagues would find it interesting at some stage to see something of Hong Kong's problems at first hand, and assure you that you will be most welcome visitors whenever you are able to do so.
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Oliver Wright
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