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DSR 11C (Revised 5/87)
24. Events in China have overshadowed Hong Kong's most
immediate problem: how to cope with the 48,000 Vietnamese
boat people who have found shelter there. The Hong Kong
government and people have dealt magnificently with this
appalling problem, but Hong Kong is being overwhelmed by
the sheer weight of numbers. The vast majority of those
reaching Hong Kong are not political refugees but
economic migrants, who have no hope of being accepted for
resettlement elsewhere in the world. Hong Kong cannot
offer them a home or a livelihood.
In Confidence
25.
At the recent international conference in Geneva,
the international community pledged to resettle all those
in the region who qualify as refugees. We have
undertaken to accept 2000 more refugees from Hong Kong
over the next 3 years. We have also announced our
readiness to contribute £5 million towards the costs of a
regional processing centre to which all these refugees
from Hong Kong and the region could be transferred
quickly while they await resettlement.
26. At the Geneva Conference I urged the international
community to accept the reality that all those boat
people who do not qualify as refugees must find their
future in Vietnam. We were able to secure general
recognition of this fact. The recent report of the
Select Committee on Foreign Affairs also recognised that
it is intolerable for those who do not qualify as
refugees to have to spend years in camps. I am glad to
say that important progress is now being made in our
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