TNAG-1525-FCO40-2089-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-Sub-Committee-on-Race-Relations-and--1986 — Page 111

CONFIDENTIAL

SECRETARY OF STATE'S MEETING WITH GENSCHER, 12 APRIL

VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG

Essential Facts

General

1.

of

first

9,100 Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong awaiting

resettlement; the

number largest

any place of asylum in South East Asia. They are spending increasingly

periods long

in Hong Kong because of diminishing

resettlement prospects: over 60% have been there more than 3

years.

Recent Action by HMG

2.

Government's The

response

in

September

to SCORRI's

to the

report "Refugees and Asylum with Special Reference Vietnamese" announced inter alia:

(i) HMG's decision to accept for resettlement some 500 refugees, mostly from Hong Kong, who have relatives in the UK but who would normally

fall outside the Home Office's criteria

family reunion cases;

for

(ii) that, depending on the willingness shown by

other resettlement

countries to

respond

to

Hong

Kong's

needs, HMG are

prepared

to

consider

accepting

further

limited

from Hong Kong.

The Hong

Kong

numbers

Government

would also

be

prepared

to

absorb

limited

numbers from the camps. (Hong Kong agreed on

6 February to absorb up to 250

to 250 more refugees

from the Hong Kong camps.)

CONFIDENTIAL,