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(a) Termination or suspension of first asylum in Hong Kong
This would be more controversial than mandatory repatriation and might actually exacerbate the situation in Hong Kong. If boat
people scuttle their vessels when turned away (very likely because unlike the position in Thailand or Malaysia, they have nowhere else to go), the Hong Kong authorities would be faced with a decision
whether to pick up those in the water or risk their drowning. In
fact they would have to be rescued and put ashore in Hong Kong: to
allow them to drown would be tantamount to murder. Once landed, they would constitute a new and unmanageable category of boat person unless they were screened, like everyone else.
(b) Regional Holding Centre for the screened-out
It is extremely unlikely that a Government can be found willing
to play host to such a centre, unless cast-iron assurances are forthcoming that the inmates will be returned to the country of origin or otherwise removed within a finite period of time.
Regional Processing Centre for Refugees awaiting resettlement
19.
After a promising start, the proposed Regional Processing Centre in the Philippines (RPCP) for Refugees, conditionally offered by the Filipino Foreign Minister at the ICIR, has made little progress. The Filipinos have finally agreed to a feasibility study under UNHCR auspices. But Foreign Minister Manglapus is still insisting on the creation of a counterpart camp for the screened-out, if not in Vietnam then in the US or elsewhere, as a condition for going ahead. The longer it takes to set up the RPCP, the less its value to Hong Kong as a means of easing their
problems.
The First Repatriation and After
20.
The path of action towards the first deportation is at
Annex C. There are, of course, risks associated with the first
return. We cannot rule out that some of those selected for
repatriation will at the last moment resist. Under these
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