6063 D.143344 200M 12/73 Cr.P.C. Op.839/3
CONFIDENTIAL
File No.
Department
HKIOD
OUTWARD
Drafted by
(Block Capitals) PL O'KEEFFE
TELEGRAM
Tél. Extn.......
MA615
DESKBY
FOR COMMS, DEPT.
USE
Despatched
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PREAMBLE
(Time of Origin)
(Security Class.) CONFIDENTIAL ..........
(Codeword)
(precedence)
AND TO (precedence/post)..
Security Classification CONFIDENTIAL
Precedence IMMEDIATE
(Restrictive Prefix).mutua (Caveat
Privacy Marking)huij
(Deskby)...stifa
WASHINGTON.............. Tel. No. miniminä öf.
(post)
i
XY 42
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REPEATED TO (for info)............Priority Hong Kong, Ottawa, Stockholm, Copenhagen,
Peking, Manila, Vingapore (Saigon Unit) Canberra Wellington.
Distributions
SAVING TO (for info)...............
[TEXT]
Coples to:.
My telegram 367 to Hong Kong: Vietnamese Refugees
1.
Unless you see objection please speak to the American authorities at an appropriately high level along the following lines:-
(a) We of course recognise the domestic difficulties of such large numbers of Vietnamese refugees into the United States.
(b) The problem of more than 4,600 Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong is acute (Hong Kong telegram 451 to the FCO) particularly bearing in mind that Hong Kong is obliged to accept immigrants leaving China legally at the rate of 36,000 a year and the resultant strain on the Colony's social services.
(c) Hong Kong has accepted the Vietnamese that have arrived and treated them well; but the pressures on Hong Kong and the closing of the doors by Singapore and the Philippines makes it necessary to prohibit further arrivals.
CONFIDENTIAL
/(d) Despite
1