TNAG-1421-FCO40-1904-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-Sub-Committee-on-Race-Relations-and--1985 — Page 90

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CONFIDENTIAL

PUS' TALKS WITH DR HINTEREGGER, VIENNA: 5-7 NOVEMBER 1985

Vietnamese Refugees in Hong Kong

Essential Facts

General

1. 10,000 Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement: the largest number of any place of first asylum in South East Asia. The refugees are spending increasingly long periods in Hong Kong because of diminishing resettlement prospects: 60% have been there over 3 years. Arrival rate has slowed since July 1982, when closed camp policy was introduced, but flow nevertheless continues.

Report of Home Affairs Sub-Committee on Race Relations and

Immigration (SCORRI)

2.

A Home Office White Paper in response to SCORRI's report on "Refugees and Asylum with Special Reference to

with Special Reference to the Vietnamese" was published on 26 September. It announced inter alia:

(i)

(ii)

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);

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

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