A decision by Hong Kong to accept 20 ethnic Chinese per month would mean that 240 refugees could be added to the 1,250 additional places resulting from HMG's initiative. It is a matter of judgement
of judgement whether this comprises a package which would reduce significantly Hong Kong's refugee population. If the forecast is correct, and if Hong Kong were to begin immediately to accept ethnic Chinese, then at the end of 1986 the present refugee population would have reduced from 9,600 to 5,750, a reduction of about 40%.
It
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Other resettlement countries have considerable sympathy for Hong Kong. A gesture such as local resettlement would increase Hong Kong's chances of gaining more places, particularly in the United States, Canada and Australia. could help maintain present levels of resettlement through to the end of 1987 and would also keep the pressure on the United Kingdom to live up to its commitment to consider accepting, in addition to the family reunion cases, a further limited number of Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong in the light of the willingness shown by other resettlement countries to respond to Hong Kong's need and of all the circumstances at the time.
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It is proposed that the criteria to be adopted in considering refugees for resettlement in Hong Kong should be:
in
(a) they should be long stayers. This means that
only open centre refugees, who have been Hong Kong since at least July 1982 will be considered. In practice the 1,591 refugees who arrived in 1979 and are still awaiting resettlement will be the first considered. Virtually all of them are in Kai Tak Transit Centre.
(b)
to
be
(1,531)
they should be ethnic Chinese. Approximately 85% of those who arrived in 1979 are ethnic Chinese, who speak Cantonese and some of whom have distant relatives in Hong Kong.
can,
(c) they should be financially independent. Virtually all of the adult open centre refugees are employed. They
and do, provide their own food and clothing and they pay their own utility charges. The major financial difference that resettlement in Hong Kong would bring would be the need for them to
to find accommodation outside the open centre and
rent. A small number of refugees have been granted permission to live outside the
centres open
because of the
pay
requirements of their jobs. These refugees have experienced no difficulty in finding and paying for accommodation. It is likely that
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