TNAG-1790-FCO40-2550-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-resettlement-in-third-countri-1988 — Page 259

RESTRICTED

РТААВО

file

3

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH

243/2

ния 24312

Telephone 01- 270 2652 AN 1988

Anna Macey British Embassy

OSLO

ila

Анис

Your reference

Our reference

Date

6 January 1988

241

1.

Many thanks for your letter of 9 December. Mr Wibe's response is disappointing, though not surprising given the difficulties Norway is facing on asylum seekers/refugee problems.

2. I brought the points in para 4a) and b) of your letter to the attention of the Home Office and received the attached reply.

3. Hopefully Peter Dawson's points will be of some use, though I fear that the arguments will have little impact on the Norwegians. As you know, political circumstances in the UK, and immigration pressures from elsewhere, mean that we will not be accepting more Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong before the 468 announced in May have arrived (theoretically by May 1989).

4.

In our attempts to persuade other countries to do more for Hong Kong, we point to the worsening refugee situation there (the figures for 1 January 1988 are 9,532 awaiting resettlement, 3,395 arrivals in 1987, a 65% increase over 1986, and 2,212 resettled, a 42% drop over 1986) and to the UK's record since 1975 (nearly 13,000 Vietnamese refugees accepted from Hong Kong). The May 1987 decision was a renewal of our continuing commitment to Hong Kong in this regard.

5. For your information, I also enclose a copy of the Hansard report of an adjournment debate on Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong which took place on 18 December in the House of Commons.

Yours, Paul

P T Arkwright

Hong Kong Department

RESTRICTED