Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1
A E Donald Esq
Political Advisery HONG KONG
LAST
REF.
NEXT
Telephone 01-
(AME)
Sub
Your reference
Our reference
HKK 14/5
Date
20 December 1974
370
(244)
(342)
Rear Dinam
POLICY ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM SOUTH-EAST ASIA
1.
Lord
I told you in my letter of 9 October that we would be submitting your letter of 27 September to Ministers. Goronwy-Roberts has now been consulted and broadly agrees with the guidelines set out in your letter, provided always that we are consulted in cases where there may be difficulty.
2.
You referred in your letter to the general conditions laid down by Lord Goronwy-Roberts in his meeting with the Governor on 25 July. These were that future returns to South Vietnam would be defensible if he could say in Parliament after the event:
3.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(a)
that in the light of individual interrogation of members of the group, and of assurances given by the Saigon Government, HM Government were satisfied that there were no special circumstances which could have justified refusal to return;
that members of the group had established no claim to residence in Hong Kong and there were no special medical or humanitarian considerations;
that previous cases had shown that the assurances of the South Vietnamese Government were reliable; and
that the group had therefore been returned, with the exception (where appropriate) of those to whom such special considerations applied.
These conditions can be adapted, mutatis mutandis, to the return of illegals to other countries. However, in view of the continuing wartime situation in Indo-China, we think it important that you should obtain prior assurances from the South Vietnamese and Khmer Governments on the lines of those obtained for the 118, covering those to be returned now and in the future. A blanket assurance on these lines would make it unnecessary to consult the two Governments on every individual case. Assurances obtained in capitals might carry greater weight if an occasion arises when they have to be quoted, so you may wish to enlist the help of our Embassies in Saigon and Phnom Penh in this matter.
CONFIDENTIAL
/4.