TNAG-1540-FCO40-2104-Further-resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-i-1986 — Page 123

CONFIDENTIAL

family reunion cases,

further

limited

numbers of

Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong". Our reply to SCORRI

indicated that such a decision would be taken "in the

light of the willingness

shown by other resettlement

D

I consider that

that the

countries to respond to Hong Kong's needs and of all the

other circumstances at the time"

responses of other countries to date and the continuing

burden of the camp population upon Hong Kong's resources

warrant our initiating a further and continuing offtake

from Hong Kong under this commitment as soon as our

current "family reunion" offtake

offtake from Hong Kong ceases.

While I I appreciate that such a decision will not be an

easy one to take, I believe that it is imperative in the

light of our continuing political and moral

responsibility for Hong Kong. I also believe that it

could be implemented reasonably

reasonably simply given that the

voluntary agencies have already identified several

hundred extra Hong Kong cases who would be eligible under

our existing *relaxed

family reunion criteria.

8.

I should here reassure you that, besides seeking to

continue with overseas resettlement, we are also exploring

other solutions however remote their prospects of early

success

-

to this highly intractable problem. It is

increasingly clear that two of the main resettlement

countries

—

the USA and Australia

-

are trying to justify

their growing reluctance to take more refugees from Hong

Kong on the grounds many of those now arriving from

Vietnam are economic migrants rather than "true"

CONFIDENTIAL