TNAG-1422-FCO40-1905-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-Sub-Committee-on-Race-Relations-and--1986 — Page 178

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3.

To maximise the effect of our decision, we are pressing

other resettlement countries as widely as possible to take additional numbers of refugees from Hong Kong. Responses have

been mixed. Most countries have been sympathetic to ou r request, but it is too early yet to know how many will respond

wi th concrete offers of resettlement places. So far only Australia, New Zealand and Luxembourg have offered specific increases (up to 200, 10 and "some families" respectively).

German position

4. West Germany has accepted about 2,400 Vietnamese refugees

from Hong Kong since 1975, more than any other European country apart from the UK. Most of these went to Germany in 1979/80:

recently it has accepted very few (1 in 1984, 43 so far this year). However it continues to accept large numbers direct from Vietnam (about 1,000 in the past year). Altogether it has accepted 31,000 Indo-Chinese refugees since 1975 (compared with

the UK's 19,000), and has issued permits for 5,000 more.

5.

In response to the Embassy's approach, the Auswaertiges Amt initially said that they would press for the admission of

Vietnamese in Hong Kong with German links (the Hong Kong

Government believe there are about 90 of these). However the

Auswaertiges Amt have since informed the Embassy that the

German Government is unable to admit any additional refugees from Hong Kong. The Embassy have commented that the Germans!

problems over Tami Is and other South Asian refugees, not to

mention East Germans and East Europeans, force them to put Vietnamese refugees at the bottom of the list. The Embassy see little hope of the Germans changing their minds without strong pressure at a political level.

6.

Mr Eggar

Eggar accordingly raised the subject at his meeting with Dr Meyer-Landrut, State Secretary at the Auswaertiges Amt, on 8 November. Dr Meyer-Landrut said that this question fell within the competence of the Laender, who were particularly cautious about Far Eastern refugees. Because of this, and the

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