TNAG-1802-FCO40-2562-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-resettlement-in-the-UK-1988 — Page 265

refu es: their future lies in Vietnam. The rest, some

15,500, arrived before the introduction of screening and

await resettlement as refugees. It is the largest

population of refugee boat people in the region. Thanks

to our policy of screening very few indeed are being

added to their number. But the current rate of

resettlement (25.000 in the past 12 months) is

>

unacceptably slow. Even if that level of commitment is

sustained it will take a further 6 years before all

15,500 have been resettled.

And over time governments

who do not have our own direct responsibility for Hong

Kong willtend to let the territory's needs slip down their

list of priorities.

3. In May 1987 the Home Secretary announced a

commitment to resettle 468 named refugees from Hong Kong

over 2 years, at a rate of about 20 per month. Since

then the number of boat people in Hong Kong has trebled

and the rate of intake from the major resettlement

countries has declined.

4. Our record of resettlement of Indo-Chinese refugees

since 1979 is an honourable one. Our performance on

resettlement from Hong Kong is particularly creditable.

But the dramatic increase in Hong Kong's refugee

population calls for a new initiative, consistent with

the efforts we have made in the past, to stimulate

substantial

new commitments from others.