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R63 1442 14/04/88
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FAR EASTERN TOPICAL TALK
June 14th 1988
=NEW BRITISH POLICY ON VIETNAMESE
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#REFUGEES IN HONG KONG
pet på sit pet pið guð pið gat gut pel pot pot put it got get pet pið að pet put
by Michael Williams (5)=
NOTE: Embargo on this talk is now dropped.
LEAD INS The Hong Kong government is expected to announce t major
change of policy concerning Vietnamese refugees on June 15th Cat 0830 BST). Under the new policy Vietnamese 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
Vietnamese 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 5,000 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
125,000Vietnamese refugees, Despite the pressures on such a small
territory, Hong Kong has itself permanently resettled 15, 000
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