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amongst the Vietnamese people and government, and countries of re-settlement. It could not solve the boat problem, but it would help to relieve it. There was a danger in over- politicising the problem, which would aggravate it, inhibit orderly departure, and deter countries, of first asylum. The Vietnamese were only talking of hundres of thousands who wished to leave. It was very important to get the right balance between the political and humanitarian factors. A great deal had been accomplished since 1975; it was now a question of mobilising the international community.
9. Mr Blaker said he was struck that countries of first asylum had recently been taking the view that they should tackle Vietnam themselves; he wondered if the recent Malaysian announcement was not designed to put pressure on Vietnam. He invited suggestions on how Vietnam could be persuaded to stop these expulsions. Our information suggested that Vietnam was determined to expel the ethnic Chinese; for example, the passengers on the Sibonga had been stacked on shelves like slaves with hardly any food or water. Mr Blaker felt that the agreement with Vietnam had potential, but was of limited value because the main problem was the campaign of wholesale expulsion, not family re-unification. A high percentage of British ships
were picking up refugees. We would want to include this category in any further number the UK agreed to take, and we would in any case give preference to refugees from Hong Kong. The Governor of Hong Kong would speak with HMG's full support when in Geneva next week. The UK had tuken 200,000 East African Asians, which was an interesting parallel.
10. Mr Hartling said that perhaps Vietnamese were better settled in Hong Kong than in the UK, and the indicative number for both might be considered together. In Africa, where there were 4 million refugees, the principle of first asylum was respected. But in SE Asia the countries of first asylum spoke only of 'temporary' or 'transit' facilities. If Indonesia took the equivalent of 1% of their population the problem could be solved. Hong Kong ought to be able to absorb 10,000. The only way to influence the countries of SE Asia was if the west took more refugees.
11. Mr Dayal said there were four points on which the High Commissioner was seeking help;-
(a)
(b)
pressure on the countries concerned, in particular Commonwealth ones, to respect the principle of first asylum which was the soul of UNHCR and must not be destroyed;
telling SE Asia the truth- that they would have to settle many of these refugees themselves; the UNHCR had been a lone voice in preaching this;
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