CONFIDENTIAL
Record of a meeting with the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees at Government House on Wednesday, 11 August, 1976
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(with attached trie I by Politicas Advere)
Present:
H.E.,
Mr. Sampatkumar, PS/GH:
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Mr. Sampatkumar expressed satisfaction
with the arrangements that had been made with him in
Hong Kong. He did not envisage any difficulty in getting the refugees from the 'Ava' away from Hong Kong.
2.
H.E. said that it had been possible to admit the refugees to Hong Kong only because the High Commissioner for Refugees had given a categorical under- taking of responsibility for them. The position however was delicate because Hong Kong, with a Chinese population, was returning Chinese immigrants from the Mainland, so there could be considerable bitterness if it appeared that
preference was being given to Vietnamese. Mr. Sampatkumar fully accepted this and said that as a result of advance warning from the Director of Immigration, he had recently been able to divert a British tanker with 33 refugees on board to Kobe where the Japanese had accepted them.
3.
Mr. Sampat kumar said that arrangements similar to those for the 'Ava' refugees could be made on future occasions with the same assurances as to removal and expenses, but there was no formal agreement as to future procedure. H.E. stressed that the important condition
CONFIDENTIAL
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