CONFIDENTIAL
solution to refugee problems. We agree.
have been few volunteers
Not suprisingly, there
In
who
few volunteers for repatriation to Vietnam. Of the 20 who
have So far applied from Hong Kong, 14 have returned to Vietnam; the
other six applications are still pending.
response to an
approach from Mr Hartling in September 1984, the Vietnamese said
that there was no reason why Vietnam should take back Vietnamese
did not wish to participate in the work of reconstruction and who
left Vietnam, although they were prepared to consider applications
on a case-by-case basis. This augurs badly for any
repatriation to Vietnam; and there are not in any case
many more volunteers.
large scale
likely to be
(b) Local absorption
UNHCR also favour settlement in the country of first asylum.
Kong has absorbed
Vietnam, since 1975.
Hong
14,500 displaced Indo-Chinese, mostly from
Hong Kong's relative wealth might be cited as
a reason to take a greater number of Vietnamese. But the territory
is already densely populated; it has had to deal with enormous
immigration from China in the same period and Chinese legal
immigrants still number over 27,000 a year. The people of Hong Kong
would be unlikely to welcome Vietname se immigration while illegal
immigrants from China are being repatriated daily. There is always
the danger that further absorption by Hong Kong would trigger more
departures from Vietnam. Nevertheless, i f the flow of Vietnamese
arrivals can be slowed and an adequate way found to deal with future
arrivals, it would be reasonable to expect Hong Kong to absorb a
proportion of those in centres, as part of a general programme of
resettlement or repatriation for the remainder. But the Hong Kong
Government would only consider this on the strict understanding that
was a once and for all gesture, which would need to be linked to
an international effort, with UK participation, to deal with what
would then be a fixed number of refugees in Hong Kong.
it
(c) Regional Integration
But Hong Kong's
UNHCR prefer this to more distant resettlement.
neighbours have refugee problems of their own and would not welcome any additional burden. Thailand, which has absorbed some refugees,
has ruled out the possibility of absorbing any more.
CONFIDENTIAL
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.