TNAG-1795-FCO40-2555-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation--including-Opera-1988 — Page 369

Fourthly, resettlement. Your constituent is incorrect in stating that Britain has taken only four refugees from Hong Kong since 1986. In that year alone we settled 474 refugees. In May 1987 the Home Secretary announced that a further 468 named Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong would be resettled here over the next two years: in 1987 we accepted 156 refugees; and so far this year we have taken in over 100. We are actively considering what more can be done. In the meantime, our existing resettlement programme is continuing.

Fifthly, your constituent asks about action with the Vietnamese authorities. We have been very busy on this front. Geoffrey Howe spoke firmly to his Vietnamese counterpart in New York on 7 June about the need for Vietnam to control illegal operations and to accept back those boat people who do not qualify as refugees. We have taken every opportunity to drive this message home, both in our own bilateral contacts with the Vietnamese authorities and by urging the other countries concerned and the UNHCR to do likewise. Our efforts appear to have borne some fruit: the Vietnamese Government have recently indicated that they are ready to open negotiations on repatriation. We are of course taking up this offer: we will clearly have to establish precisely what the Vietnamese are prepared to do. I should add that I have just returned myself from Hong Kong, where I visited two refugee centres and had extensive discussions with the Hong Kong Government and others closely concerned with the problem. was struck by the efficient and humane way in which the authorities are coping with this difficult and tragic problem, despite the enormous additional burden which they have had to shoulder. They deserve full credit for this. And we are doing all we can to find a solution to this problem.

I

Finally, your constituent asks about 1997. It is our firm intention that the problem of Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong should be resolved well before 1997. In any event, the 1984 Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong provides for the continuation after 30 June 1997 of Hong Kong's present social and legal systems. Any boat people then in Hong Kong should thus retain their current status.

Уа

fimen

THE LORD GLENARTHUR