TNAG-1425-FCO40-1908-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-general-1985 — Page 63

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On May 7, I read a newspaper article in the South

China Morning Post that Mr Clive Soley, a Labour MP, said and I quote, "I want to make the point that unless the British Government takes a large number of the Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong then these poor people are going to be there forever. The United Kingdom should accept 10,000 of the refugees so other countries like Canada, the United States and Australia will take the rest and we can close the camps in Hong

Kong. What I am after is for us to take a sufficiently large number to bring the other countries in. We could absorb these people without too much difficulty." Unquote. I welcome Mr Soley's statement, furthermore, I hope members of the British Parliament realise that the United States, Canada have taken a much greater number of Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong than the United Kingdom and it is about time that the United Kingdom did its part about this sad situation." I will be jumping with joy if the United Kingdom will accept 10,000 refugees. In fact, I would be satisfied if the United Kingdom accepts half

that number. However, for the record, last year, the United Kingdom accepted a pathetic number of 88 refugees from Hong Kong of which only 61 were not ship rescue cases. I hope the United Kingdom meant what it said that Britain has special responsibilities to Hong Kong and I would urge the British Government to show that special responsibility by accepting these Vietnamese refugees in the quantity that Mr Soley

mentioned.

Finally, Sir, I would like to say a few words about the closed camp policy. The closed camps in Hong Kong are a

deterrent for Vietnamese refugees to come to Hong Kong. It has been shown in a number of incidents that when the refugees sail into Hong Kong on their boats, they do not want to stay in Hong

Kong in the closed camps. Therefore, I strongly urge the

Government not to remove the closed camp policy.