TNAG-1792-FCO40-2552-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation--including-Opera-1988 — Page 264

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a four-fold increase in arrivals so far this year over the corresponding period in 1987;

a 35% increase in the total Vietnamese refugee population in Hong Kong since this time last year;

strong indications that the arrival rate is set to increase sharply later this year;

a resettlement situation which the Hong Kong Government describe as "bad and getting worse";

unwillingness of the international community to maintain a resettlement programme which will keep pace with arrivals and indeed recognition that resettlement stimulates the outflow from Vietnam;

A

B

5.

growing public opposition in Hong Kong to the present policy, together with increasing calls for Hong Kong to cease to be a place of first asylum (ie to cease treating all new arrivals as refugees);

a threat from LegCo not to vote funds for a fourth closed camp unless policy changes are made.

Against this background, the Hong Kong Government have begun to consider a new policy under which, from a certain date, Hong Kong would cease to be a place of first asylum for all arrivals from Vietnam. Their thinking is still at a preliminary stage and still in a state of some flux. Paragraphs 10-12 of Hong Kong telno 1539 set out one possible approach, whereby all new Vietnamese boat arrivals would be treated as illegal immigrants and would be detained pending repatriation to Vietnam. Our interpretation of the telegram was that there would be no screening on arrival to determine eligibility for refugee status, on the grounds that this could severely undermine the deterrent effect of the policy. telno 1047 we argued strongly that such an approach would be unacceptable both internationally and in terms of opinion here and

In our

CONFIDENTIAL