TNAG-1796-FCO40-2556-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation--including-Opera-1988 — Page 134

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is about 35,000, but it is not clear what proportion of these the

governments of first asylum would seek to have returned to Veitnam.

These numbers will of course continue to be swollen by new arrivals.

7. In the unlikely event that a "pilot programme" can be established, involving only returnees from Hong Kong, it is possible that we might need to consider sharing the financing between the

British and Hong Kong Governments. The Hong Kong Government have

not considered what level their contribution might be, but they

would have a strong incentive to go 50/50. (Total costs for 9,000

refugees at the generous figure of US$500 per head would be US$42

million). Much more probably there would be a multilateral

programme which would be the subject of a general appeal by UNHCR to potential donor governments. We would naturally encourage other governments to respond positively. The Japanese have in the past

been quite generous in providing money for the upkeep of boat

people, largely as a substitute for resettlement places. The costs

of transportation for the handful of voluntary returnees who have

gone back from Hong Kong to Vietnam have in the past been met by the

Intergovermental Committee on Migration (ICM). It is not clear at this very early stage whether they would be prepared to meet the

costs of large scale repatriation, or whether this would fall to

UNHCR.

Contribution to UNHCR activities in Hong Kong

8. This is in many ways a separate issue, which falls within established policies. The UNHCR already incur substantial costs in

Hong Kong in the administration of the "open camps" for boat people. These costs will be greatly increased as the UNHCR take over the

responsibility of running a large new open camp to which former

inmates of the "closed camps" (ie those who arrived before 16 June)

will be progressively transferred. The general contributions of donors to the UNHCR's "core programme" (including our own) are

already used to meet those running costs. In addition last year we contributed £100,000 from our refugee programme.

9.

In view of the huge capital costs which the Hong Kong Government are now incurring in the construction of new camps and detention

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