TNAG-1911-FCO40-2715-Financial-assistance-from-the-UK-Government-to-Vietnamese-re-1989 — Page 132

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CONFIDENTIAL

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Whitehall

SW1

HONG KONG: VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE

1.

At the OD(K) meeting on 4 October the Sub-committee concluded that I should pursue with you the outstanding funding questions related to resolving the Vietnamese boat people problem in Hong Kong

2. On 22 May and 2 June Geoffrey Howe wrote to you requesting £4.25 m to provide emergency accommodation for 9,000 boat people. In the event, £4.5m was granted in order to provide 23,000 places. Other relevant funds which the Treasury has kindly made available from the 1989-90 reserve but which have not yet been drawn down

are:

(a) up to around £4 million for a bilateral scheme for

repatriating non-volunteers to Vietnam; and

(b)

£5 million for a Refugee Processing Centre to be built outside Vietnam.

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3. I do not propose to cover in detail the continuing serious situation in Hong Kong this has been fully set out in the OD(K) paper and minutes. I would only say that there are now over 56,000 Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong: about 13,000 are refugees and about 90% of the remainder will be "screened out" as economic migrants, leaving over 38,000 in Hong Kong with nowhere to go except back to Vietnam. Thus far only 386 have gone back on the voluntary programme. The political situation in Hong Kong has hardened. Vietnamese boat people is the subject of discussion and frustration. In order to meet the worsening situation in Hong Kong and to set on train mandatory repatriation, additional expenditure and commitments for expenditure are required as follows:

(a) £5.6 m from the 1989-90 reserve to enable the Hong

Kong Government to undertake further security and other works related to

the emergency accommodation;

one third from the 1989-90 reserve and two thirds from the 1990-91 reserve as a 50% contribution

(b) £13 m,

ROFAIC

CONFIDENTIAL