TNAG-1910-FCO40-2714-Financial-assistance-from-the-UK-Government-to-Vietnamese-re-1989 — Page 16

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CONFIDENTIAL

HHOD

PSTM. Movar

Maskene mala Mi Gillmore

Mr

Mr Macven

Mr. Haspel 98 Mr Bothewick

1

Wa

9/8

Mr Crabou, RMD Kiv Griffiths, finance

CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY

Mr Colvin, JOAD

418

1.

Vietnamese Boat People

As Chief Secretary, I wrote to Geoffrey Howe on

6 June agreeing to a discretionary claim on the Reserve

of up to £4.25 million to pay for emergency accommodation for Vietnamese boat people arriving in Hong Kong.

£4 million of this sum was for providing accommodation in a converted barracks at Lei Yue Mun, and the remaining

£0.25 million for the provision of tents.

2. Since then, the situation in Hong Kong has

deteriorated further. Boat people continue to arrive

at the rate of about 1,000 per week and there are now

over 50,000 in Hong Kong. The critical accommodation situation is now getting worse. Emotions in the

territory, aggravated by events in China, are running

very high and you will have seen recent press reports of trouble in the camps. Much of this feeling is directed against Britain. For example, the Prime

Minister recently received four large sacks of

letters from local residents calling for the first asylum policy to be abandoned. The letters

CONFIDENTIAL