British Embassy
RECEIVED IN
REGISTRY No.14
No 1 Ichiban-Cho Chiyoda-ku Tokyo
Telex J22755 (A/B PRODROME)
Telephone 265-5511
A K Goldsmith Esq
South East Asia Department
FCO
ει
UND)
7 OCT 176
не
FED HED
16)
Ele
solmit
7/10
FA 243/1
Your reference
Our reference
A land to
De-ken
Date
1 October 1976
Тобил
Zko.
Goldsmith,
MON
- 8 OCT 1976
HK11243/154873
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES: WA MATHER
1. You will have seen from telegrans that the 33 Vietnamese refugees from the WA Mather were landed in Kobe on 25 September. Basil Rainbow, the Vice Consul in Osaka, was present and one of the refugees speaking on behalf of the party told him that they were most grateful for the assistance given by HMG.
?
2. We have seen your telno 151 to Hamilton. We are in close touch with the Americans here who have re-interviewed the whole party. All of them have said that the United States is their first choice for resettlement. According to the American Embassy all except one family of 8 persons claim to have close relatives already living in the United States. If correct, this would put them into what is called Category I and theoretically gives them a good chance of entry, but the refugees have no idea where their relations are now living and therefore it may take some time to obtain confirmation. The remaining family claims to have only cousins living in the United States which, although it would exclude them from Category I would not rule out the possibility of their applications eventually going through. The American Embassy is well aware of the need to obtain at the very least, if possible some kind of positive statement within 30 days concerning the refugees chances of entering the U» and they will advise us if they consider it would be helpful for our Embassy in Washington to speak to the State Department. (We have just seen your tel 2112). They consider that it is highly unlikely that any of the refugees will obtain the necessary permission to enter the US within this limited period. However we have already been in touch with both the Japanese IFA and the Ministry of Justice who have indicated that at least in cases where there seems a reasonable chance of the refugees being accepted, they are prepared to be flexible over the 30 day limit.
j. llot unnaturally the MFA were unhappy at our expression of regret that the Japanese Government was unwilling to accept UNHCR assurances. The IIFA and the Ministry of Justice consider that they have come a long way from the basic principle of Japanese immigration policy which
RESTRICTED
/is