CONFIDENTIAL
(1059)
CALL ON THE SECRETARY OF STATE BY THE CHINESE AMBASSADOR, 10.00 AM ON THURSDAY 7 JUNE
Present:
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The Rt Hon The Lord Carrington
KCMG MC
Mr G G H Walden
Mr J T Masefield
DEON V
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PA
MrQu 12 13.6
Mr Ke Hua MCheng Wan-chen
(Interpreter)
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Lord Carrington opened the meeting by saying how much he was Looking forward to the visit of Premier Hua Guofeng in October.
1.
We needed to start discussing the arrangements for the meeting soon as he would like Premier Hua to do and see what he wanted to do and
see.
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Lord Carrington then turned to the question of refugees from Vietnam and asked how the Chinese, who had already taken over 200,000 refugees, saw the future. Were there really likely to be another million refugees? Mr Ke Hua said that the Vietnamese faced very severe economic difficulties and the people were unwilling to act as cannon fodder in the war in Cambodia and against China. Moreover the Vietnamese authorities were making a huge profit out of the refugees. The figure of a million more could prove to be
conservative.
The Chinese Government quite understood the concern with which Britain viewed the situation. The Chinese had been burdened with many difficulties through accepting over 230,000 refugees. In reply to a question, he said that he did not know what proportion of the refugees wanted to leave of their own free will and what proportion were compelled to leave by the authorities. He undertook to ask his Government whether they had any information on the subject and would let Lord Carrington know. But whatever the proportions, as far as
far as the Vietnamese authorities were concerned their attitude was hard to justify since they were extorting large sums of money from the refugees.
3.
Lord Carrington said that the problem was on an unprecedented scale and he did not see how a million people could be coped with unless a very major effort was made. M. Ke said that some people were calling it a second slave trade since the refugees were crammed into small specially built junks and many were drowned in the process of being transported away from Vietnam.
Whether it was two-thirds
or fifty per cent of those who left Vietnam who were drowned it was a very inhuman action. Lord Carrington hoped the Chinese Government would add its urgent support to our proposal for a UN Conference to tackle the problem.
Only 15 members of the entire UN had taken Mr Ke said that he had taken note of the proposal
He wondered what the present
in any refugees.
.and would report to his Government.
situation was.
CONFIDENTIAL
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