TNAG-2168-FCO40-3105-House-of-Commons-Foreign-Affairs-Committee-inquiry-into-Hong-1990 — Page 120

BACKGROUND

CONFIDENTIAL

1. 34,000 Vietnamese asylum seekers arrived in Hong Kong in 1989.

Fortunately, in 1990 so far refugee resettlement, combined with the

return of non-refugees has resulted in a slow but steady net decline

in the population of boat people in Hong Kong, which has now dropped

below 55,000. The situation has been helped by the fact that no

influx on last year's scale has yet developed: new arrivals are

markedly down on the same period last year. But still impossible to

exclude another unmanageable inflow.

2. The refugee resettlement is ahead of the target set by the

Geneva Conference in June 1989. Over 50% of the Hong Kong caseload

will have left by June 1990. The Philippines Government has agreed

to accept 500 refugees into the Refugee Processing Centre at Bataan in the Philippines and their transfer from Hong Kong should begin

shortly. The rate of resettlement, coupled with the assistance of

the Philippines Government, holds out the prospect that all refugees

will have left Hong Kong by the end of this year. But we still

need to agree with the Filipinos the conditions for accepting the

remaining 5,000 into the new Regional Refugee Transit Centre, now

under construction.

3.

The Comprehensive Plan of Action agreed at Geneva established

the principle that all non-refugees should return to their country

of origin with, in the first instance every effort being made to

encourage them to volunteer. The Foreign Affairs Committee rightly

pointed out that, in the absence of significant levels of voluntary

repatriation, however regrettable it may be, there is no alternative

to the mandatory repatriation of those who are screened out.

Towards the end of 1989, the Government faced a situation in Hong

Kong where less than 1% of those screened out had volunteered, and

there were no signs that the number would increase. Accordingly the

Secretary of State announced on 12 December 1989 the repatriation of

a first group of 51 screened out Vietnamese who had not volunteered

to return. No force was used, a fact confirmed by the report of

Lord Ennals and Mr Timothy Raison MP who subsequently travelled to

Vietnam in order to monitor the conditions of the returnees and

confirm that all was well.

PTAAPE(1)

CONFIDENTIAL

Page 120Page 121