CONFIDENTIAL
174
PA
8D217
RECORD OF CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE LORD GORONWY-ROBERTS AND THE GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG HELD AT THE HOUSE OF LORDS ON THURSDAY 25 JULY
AT 3.30 P.M.
Present
Lord Goronwy-Roberts
Mr K M Wilford
Sir Murray MacLehose
Mr A C Stuart
Mr A C Galsworthy
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO HONG KONG FROM SOUTH VIETNAM
1.
Lord Goronwy-Roberts said he would like to examine the handling of the recent 118 refugees to see if there were any lessons to be learned for similar incursions in the future. He had no brief for draft dodgers and little faith in organisations such as Amnesty International. But he would like to be satisfied that sufficient time was given for sorting out any genuine political refugees. He was also concerned about members of the group who were old or sick and about the women and children. For the genuine refugees, who might be very exceptional, we must consider what to do to save them. For the rest, who had tried to enter Hong Kong illegally but were not in danger of unusual punishment in South Vietnam for political reasons, return should be carried out as humanely as possible. This included not taking undue risks with the health of the sick and old. He wondered how long could be given. for this process to be fully carried out by the Hong Kong
Government.
2.
Sir Murray MacLehose replied that the previous group had stayed in Hong Kong for a fortnight. He thought this might have been too long. In the last days, trouble had been developing. Amnesty International claimed that if they had been given a few more days they would have been able to find alternative destinations for members of the party. For example, they said that France and Australia had offered to take some. These claims were untrue. The Quai D'Orsay had denied all knowledge of such a proposal. view was that there should be a thorough investigation;
His own
but that
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