TNAG-1424-FCO40-1907-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-general-1985 — Page 93

From the Secretary of State

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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH

ELIN N

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15 March, 1985

Dur Denis

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Letn

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Thank you for your letter of 7 March enclosing a copy of a petition from "Refugee Action" about the Vietnamese refugee problem in Hong Kong.

The refugees in closed centres to whom you refer

constitute just over half of the present total of

11,700. The rest arrived before the introduction

of the closed centre policy and are accommodated in open centres. It may be helpful if I provide some general background information about the refugee

situation in Hong Kong, and in particular about the closed centre policy. Hong Kong has shouldered an

enormous refugee burden in recent years. More

than half a million people have left Vietnam by

boat since 1975 and of these over 100,000 have

arrived in Hong Kong. Although it is one of the

most densely populated places in the world, Hong Kong has turned none away: all have been given temporary asylum pending resettlement. Hong Kong has also accepted 14,500 displaced Indo-Chinese

for permanent settlement. For the first few years

the rate of resettlement from the refuggee centres

in Hong Kong was satisfactory but by 1982 it had

fallen considerably, while large numbers of boat people

continued to arrive. As a result the number in

Hong Kong began to rise and their prospects of

resettlement grew worse.

The Rt Hon Denis Healey CH MBE MP

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