TNAG-1427-FCO40-1910-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-general-1986 — Page 17

DSR 11 (Revised)

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

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PRIVACY MARKING

..In Confidence

DRAFT:

FROM:

minute/letter/teleletter/despatch/note

SECRETARY OF STATE

DEPARTMENT:

TEL. NO:

TO:

Rt Hon Alfred Morris Ecq MP

House of Commons

London SWIA OAA

MKC 243/5

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

02 JAN1986

SUBJECT:

DESK OFFICER

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CAVEAT....

Private Succeday Self-explanatory

draps ectter.

ури

HKD 130 December 1985

Enclosures-flag(s).

Thank you

for your letter of 18 December enclosing

one from your constituent, Mrs D Course of 8 Connor Way,

Gatley, Cheadle, Cheshire, about the Vietnamese refugees

in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement.

We have been seeking a solution to this problem

since Vietnamese refugees began to arrive in Hong Kong in

1975; 104,000 have reached Hong Kong since then, and all

have been granted temporary asylum by the Hong Kong

Government: none have been turned away. Hong Kong

currently has some 9,500 refugees awaiting resettlement,

more than anywhere else in South

South East Asia. Initially

newly-arriving refugees were accommodated in open

in open camps,

from which they were able to seek outside employment. At

first they were resettled reasonably quickly. However by

1982 the

of resettlement had begun to decrease, and

Government saw no alternative but to

to deter

the Hong Korg

introduced the "closed camp" policy in order

would-be refugees from travelling to Hong Kong.

This has