TNAG-1794-FCO40-2554-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation--including-Opera-1988 — Page 210

TUN 16 '83 17:02 HKGO LONDON FAX:01 493-1954

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FET

RQ3 1642 14/06/88

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FAK FASTERN TOPICAL TALK

-NEW BRITISH POLICY ON VIETNAMESE

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pet pel què pot qui pat që më pð að að på sit at art pit.

June 14th 1988

-REFUGEES IN HONG KONG

by Micha

Williams (9)=

NOTE: /Embargn on this talk is now dropped.

LEAD INT The Hong Kong government is expected to announce & mējam

change of policy concerning Vietnamese refugees on June 15th (at 0830 BST). Under the new policy VietnamOSE arriving in Hong Kong will be screened and those deemed not to be genuine refugees will eventually be returned to Vietnam. Here to comment on the new policy is Michael Williams of the BBC Far Eastern Service.

Reports of a major change in Hong Kong's policy towards

Vietriamese boat people arriving in the territory have been

circulating for some weeks. Last month when the British Foreign

Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe visited Hong Kong he warned that the

colony could not go on indefinitely accepting an endless stream of

refugees from Vietnam. His remarks were clearly prompted by an

upsurge of feeling in Hong Kong itself that something had to be done

to cope with the rising number of Vietnamese boat people.

This year

alone more than 8,000 Vietnamese have arrived in the territory and by

June the daily arrivals were exceeding 200. At a press conference in

Hong Kong at the end of May, Sir Geoffrey said that the majority of

boat people arriving now were not genuine refugees. At the same time

he strongly criticised Vietnam and said that it had a duty to the

international community to take back those who were not truly

refugees.

Since 1975 Hong Kong has given temporary asylum to more than

125,00 Vietnamese refugees. Despite the pressures on such a small

territory, Hong Kong has itself permanently resettled 15,000

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