Mr Cortazz
PS/Lord Goronry-Robert NSID,
одужа
HKK 341
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO. 51
29 DEC 1978
IND
178
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154
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NSID
HONG KONG : LETTER FROM SIR PAUT BRYAN P
1.
Sir Paul Bryan P (Howden Conservative) wrote to Jord Goronwy-Roberts on 8 December to ask for advice on how he should reply to a letter he had received from Sir John Tilney who in turn had been approached by a friend in New Zealand, Mr Edward Hill, seeking clarification of Lord Goronwy-Roberts' statement in the House of Lords on 8 November that no genuine political refugee would be sent back to China under the policy of repatriating illegal immigrants who are caught trying to enter Hong Kong from China.
?.
Mr Hill's letter is based on the assumption that Lord Goronwy-Roberts' statement represented a modification of the existing policy. In fact, of course, there has been no change, although the policy has not been stated so explicitly before: the background to this question was set out in Mr McLaren's submission of 4 December, concerning a letter from Lord Bethell, who also queried whether the statement represented a new departure.
3. I recommend that Lord Goronwy-Roberts should reply to Sir Paul Bryan on the lines of the attached draft.
20 December 1978
W.E. Quantrill
E Quantrill
Hong Kong and General Department
20/xA