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(175)
D J Barton Esq
Hong Kong Department
FCO
Your reference
Our reference
Date
24 March 1986
Dear David,
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES: RESETTLEMENT IN JAPAN
1.
141
Thank you for your letter HKK 243/1 of 6 March. Suganuma, whom I saw on 19 March, was grateful for copies of the enclosures to your letter, which he said would provide useful material for them in considering possible changes to their own criteria.
2.
As far as a timetable for Inter-Ministry discussions is concerned, I am afraid it is still too early in the process to be thinking in such specific terms. I asked Suganuma this morning if he could let me have some idea about progress, and also the sort of problems which his Division would come up against in trying to secure less severe criteria. His answer was that his Division's thinking was still at an embryonic stage, some way away from sounding out other MFA Divisions or Ministries even informally. I suspect he may be wishing he had not mentioned his Division's plans to me at all!
In
3.
My guess is that the Human Rights and Refugees Division will face considerable problems, both within the MFA and with other Ministries, in securing more liberal immigration criteria. general terms, the Japanese criteria are strict, and their experience with immigrants, even those of Japanese origin (for example "war children" in China who have returned to Japan after establishing direct family connections here) has not been a happy one; those returning from China have generally found it very hard to integrate into Japanese society. Suganuma has also made the point to me on a number of occasions that Vietnamese refugees themselves have found it difficult to adjust. There is therefore likely to be resistance from Departments dealing with immigration policy to any suggestion that the rules should be relaxed.
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