GF 323
CONFIDENTIAL
7.
29th December, 1978
機密
The APA briefed the local representatives of the U.S., France, Canada, West Germany and Australia on the current position. He said that the Hong Kong Government was not seeking offers from other countries to accept refugees from the "Huey Fong" since it did not wish those refugees to queque jump those already awaiting resettlement,
8.
9.
30th December, 1978
(a)
(b)
The Policy Group agreed that the following line would be taken in response to offers to resettle refugees from the "Huey Fong".
(1) The Huey Fong" was on a voyage to Taiwan;
(2)
(3)
Offers should, therefore, be made to the Taiwanese authorities if and when the vessol arrived there;
and
Hong Kong already had a large number of Vietnamese refugees, who were the responsibility of the UNHCR. The UNHCR and the Government would welcome offers to resettle those refugees.
The local representative of the UNHCR handed over a letter to the Governor from the ligh Commissioner for Refugees expressing the hope that, on humanitarian grounds, the refugees could disembark at Hong Kong. The representative was told by the P.A. that giving way on the first port of call principle by accepting those on the "Huey Fong" would inevitably lead to further ships arriving and employing the same tactics. The representative accepted that those on the "Huey Fong" should not seem to get priority resettlement, and he agreed that there should be no publicity of the UNHCR appeal locally lost this make those on board more intransigent.
31st December, 1978
No developments.
10.
1st January, 1979
No developments.
11.
2nd January, 1979
The master of the Huey Fong was called on board HMS Monkton to be advised to continue his voyage to Taiwan. He replied that he did not want to sail for Triwen because there werc ex-military personnel on board who feared reprisals there. He promised to take the ship to Taiwan if the Taiwanese Government would give them prior permission to land and a guarantee that the refugees would be reunited with their families in America and elsewhere. He was told that Hong Kong could not speak on behalf of the Taiwan Government. He then asked if the Hong Kong Government would
CONFIDENTIAL
機密