TNAG-1535-FCO40-2099-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation-1986 — Page 34

DSR 11C

CONFIDENTIAL

Operation, set up in 1983. Hong Kong, with its limited

land area and its high population, beset already with the

problem of legal and illegal entry from China, has also

faced particularly severe problems. Some 8,500

Vietnamese asylum-seekers are now housed in the various

types of centre. (A note on illegal Chinese and

Vietnamese immigration into Hong Kong is at Appendix A.)

The Hong Kong Government is particularly concerned about

the recent increase in new arrivals,, declining rate of

resettlement, the high proportion of long-stayers (those

refugees who have not been resettled for many years) in

its camps compared with those in other places of first

asylum, and the likelihood that Hong Kong will be forced

to absorb the majority of these.

The

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5. Concern about the continuing outflow of asylum

seekers has become widespread, and the rate of

resettlement has slowed. As a result, a number of

governments have moved to the view that increasingly the

motives of Indo-Chinese fleeing their countries reflect

economic concerns rather than fear of persecution.

Following on from this is a growing feeling that avenues

for resettlement be closed or made more difficult for

"economic refugees" or "migrants" in order not to

prejudice the resettlement opportunities for genuine

refugees. (A note on the definition "refugee" under

international law and current usage of the term is at

Appendix B.)

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6. Efforts so far have been concentrated on increasing

CONFIDENTIAL