TNAG-1801-FCO40-2561-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-resettlement-in-the-UK-1988 — Page 66

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HKD 243/121

FROM:

DATE:

나,

r Hus,

Mr Hum, HKD

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CC:

PS/LORD GLENARTHUR

29 March 1988

PS

PS/Mr Eggar

Mr McLaren

SEAD

News Dept

Mr Teasdale

41

VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG: LORD GLENARTHUR'S

MEETING WITH MR RENTON

1. Lord Glenarthur called on Mr Renton at the Home Office for almost an hour this morning to discuss Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong. You and I accompanied him. Flesher, Ms Dale and Ms McAllister (APS) were present for the Home Office. The following summarises the discussion.

2.

Lord Glenarthur explained the background to the present, increasingly difficult problem over refugees. Other resettlement countries had not responded satisfactorily to our agreement to take 468 refugees. had been working hard to make progress on a durable solution ie return to Vietnam, under safeguards, of non-refugees. The idea was now firmly on the international agenda. But we were frankly not getting

far.

We

The Vietnamese Government offered no encouragement, and were handling individual cases extremely slowly. We hoped that the situation there would improve if Vietnamese Forces withdrew from Cambodia. But this looked to be in 1990 at the earliest. Meanwhile, the arrival in Hong Kong had increased and the level of departure to resettlement countries had fallen. The position was likely to deteriorate, and pressure in Hong Kong would grow. We had concluded that only some renewal of our commitment now could help show Hong Kong that we were serious about tackling the problem, and encourage greater efforts by other resettlement countries.

3.

At Mr Renton's invitation Lord Glenarthur then outlined a number of possible options: (a) continuation of the present family reunion scheme beyond 468 (perhaps 200 additional refugees who met our criteria at a rate of about 20 a month); (b) an additional commitment of for example 10 a month

say 240 over two years.

These might

/be

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