HC Deb 21 January 1987 vol 108 cc887-90
15. Mr. Dubs

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Vietnamese refugees there are in Hong Kong; how many landed there in 1986; and how many are in closed camps.

Mr. Renton

On 1 January 1987 there were 8,039 Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong, of whom 4,527 were in closed camps. There were 2,074 arrivals in 1986, and 3,816 refugees from Hong Kong camps were resettled elsewhere, so that the number in the camps fell by 1,742 in the course of the year.

Mr. Dubs

Does the Minister agree that there is an urgent need for further international discussions to get people out of those camps, and that other countries can be expected to accept some refugees only if Britain sets a lead? Will the Minister confirm that there is no intention of repatriating those Vietnamese refugees who are in the camps in Hong Kong, and that there is no intention of ever turning away any further refugees who arrive by boat in Hong Kong?

Mr. Renton

I should like to stress that Britain has a good record for accepting refugees from Indo-China. We have accepted almost 20,000 refugees, including 12,000 from Hong Kong. However, I agree with the hon. Gentleman that the continuing arrival of refugees in Hong Kong is a matter of great concern to the people and the Government of Hong Kong. Therefore, we are consulting other major resettlement countries and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to see what can further be done at present.

The issue of repatriation to Vietnam was mentioned in a recent debate in the Legislative Council in Hong Kong. The hon. Gentleman and I will agree on the fact that repatriation to Hong Kong can take place only when we and other major resettlement countries are much more convinced than we are now about, for example, human rights in Vietnam and how such migrants would be treated and looked after if they went back to Vietnam.

Mr. Bowen Wells

Can my hon. Friend tell the House how many of the refugees in Hong Kong are fleeing from the unemployment and depressed economic conditions in Vietnam and are not, in any way, political refugees? Having made that assessment—I hope that he has made it, and if he has not I hope that he will do so—will he arrange for those people quickly to be returned to Vietnam with guarantees from the Vietnam Government about their human rights? It is clearly wrong for Hong Kong to accept people who are fundamentally seeking economic relief from their conditions, and not political relief.

Mr. Renton

The situation is not quite as simple as my hon. Friend has set out, although I know of his deep interest in the problem. At present there is no screening of Vietnamese refugees entering Hong Kong. It would be possible to establish those refugees who are economic migrants, to use a jargon phrase, and those who are genuine political refugees only if there was such a process of detailed screening. However, even then it is questionable whether one would necessarily arrive at totally correct answers. That is one of the problems facing all the major resettlement countries. I have already discussed the situation in Vietnam when I answered a previous question, but I am sure that we could be satisfied with the prospect of returning to Vietnam those who were not political refugees only if we were more satisfied than we are now about human rights conditions in Vietnam.

Sir Russell Johnston

Does the Minister agree that even if he were successful, as the hon. Member for Battersea (Mr. Dubs) has suggested, in improving the quota of refugees accepted by different countries, including our own, there would still be a number who, because of age, lack of linguistic knowledge or narrow work experience, would find it very difficult to be resettled anywhere? What will happen to those people when the transfer of power takes place?

Mr. Renton

That is still 10 years away. However, the hon. Gentleman has put his finger on a very sensitive question. That is precisely what is worrying Hong Kong, and it is because of that problem that we are currently having further discussions with the major resettlement countries and talking to the UNHCR, which has a new dynamic commissioner, about how we shall deal with those problems in the long term.

Mr. Sims

Does my hon. Friend agree that there is a moral obligation on the part of the people of the free world in Asia, as well as in America and Europe, not only towards the Vietnamese refugees, but towards the people and Government of Hong Kong, who have fed and sheltered every refugee who has appeared there and who have not turned a single one away? Is it not now time for a positive initiative to be taken by Her Majesty's Government to get international co-operation to relieve Hong Kong of the unreasonable burden that that country has had to shoulder for far too long?

Mr. Renton

I accept what my hon. Friend said. However, one should never underestimate what the major resettlement countries have done in recent years in taking refugees out of the Hong Kong camps. For example, there were 24,000 departures in 1979 and 3,800 last year. Every year a great quantity of refugees have been accepted by the major resettlement countries precisely for the reason mentioned by my hon. Friend—a sense of obligation. Obviously, we now have to look at what to do with the 8,000 refugees who remain in the camps. That is a matter of great worry to Hong Kong, as expressed in the recent Legislative Council debate, and that is precisely what we are consulting about at present.

Mr. Anderson

May I advance what was said by my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Mr. Dubs) about the case for seeking to trigger a response from our allies by our own example in relation to the Vietnamese refugees? If, as the Minister says, the long-term key to the problem lies in Hanoi, why have the Government not taken any initiative with our United States allies in seeking to open negotiations with the Vietnamese Government?

Mr. Renton

I am somewhat surprised by that question from the hon. Gentleman, who knows the situation in south-east Asia well. He knows the position on human rights in Vietnam, and he knows that Vietnam is currently supporting an invasion of Cambodia and that there are more than 100,000 Vietnamese troops in Cambodia. Therefore, it is rather ridiculous to chide us for not yet making direct approaches, with or without other countries, to Hanoi when such an intolerable human rights situation remains in Vietnam. We have to consider with other major resettlement countries whether there is a process of pressure that we can bring to bear on Vietnam under which conditions will so improve in that country, for example, by the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops from Cambodia, that it might be possible to suggest that refugees could go back. If they were sent back at present, I am sure that no one would object more strongly than the hon. Gentleman.