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as
hole.
I recognise also
that
in presenting such
a
at
Westminster we
would need to
commitment publicly and
show that we are
to the problem.
pursuing a wider international solution
But
you
that
we
shall
we are agreed, I think,
and this approach energetically we pursue
do everything we
that however
I can assure
can in that direction
will
inevitably
be
slow.
We
must
in
the
progress
meantime address the question of what needs to be done to
help Hong Kong:
and
in the short term there
is no means
of doing
SO
at
Our
disposal
except through
further
resettlement.
7.
We should, I think recognise that the international
response
to
our
SCORRI commitment has been
extremely
useful.
Our
agreement
to take the 500, and Hong Kong's
undertaking to resettle 250, prompted
UNHCR to
declare
Hong
Kong
priority a
area
for resettlement.
Other
countries responded by offering
about 1200
additional
places,
and as
a
result Hong Kong
will
achieve
a
resettlement
this level
year
similar to, or even
above,
that
of
last
year,
at
a
time when
international
resistance
resettlement
to
resettlement is
growing
and
regional
rates are
falling
steadily.
I do
not
believe
that
your
prediction
that
Hong
Kong's
camp
population on
as 31 December will be
high
it as
was on
1
January
will
prove
despite correct:
the higher arrival
rate
(for which
I
think
there are many
causes,
largely
unrelated to
population
Hong Kong's resettlement rate), Hong Kong's
on 31 December should be
lower by between
one
and
two
thousand
refugees
than
it
was
a
year
before.
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