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oppose such a conference;
indeed we must welcome it
while making clear to the UN Secretary General
our doubts about its likely effectiveness.
2. We take the points in Washington tel No 1587 about
the problems involved in putting pressure on the Vietnamese.
This may not work but that is no reason for not trying.
Unless Vietnam can be induced to change its policy the
flood of refugees will continue and as we see it there is
no chance that the countries of the world capable of taking
refugees from Vietnam will be able to cope with the likely
numbers in the foreseeable future. As Buffum said, the
Thais and the Malaysians are distraught and their patience
is running out. We can only hope to get them to act in a
humanitarian way if we show that we are tackling the problem
at its root. Lee Kuan Yew made it clear to me yesterday
that he was convinced that pressure on Vietnam was the
only way to deal with the basic causes. He thought that
representations by the Nine would be useful but we also
need to get the non-aligned movement to take a more
courageous stand. We can only do this by political action.
3. We still think that Security Council action at this
stage would be counter-productive but if, as we fear, a
conference in Geneva on refugees fails to stir the
conscience of the world and put effective pressure on
Vietnam we may have to go to the Security Council to back
up the results of the conference.
4. Thus it seems to us that we should now go snap on
an early conference in Geneva but should be ready to
consider joining with the Americans in going to the
Security Council if such a conference is not sufficiently
/effective