BACKGROUND NOTE
CONFIDENTIAL
THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE
1.
The Prime Minister, who had proposed to Dr Waldheim on 31 May
that there should be a conference, addressed a second message to
him on 18 June. Mr Blaker had a good discussion with the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Mr Hartling, in.
Geneva. Mr Hartling sought the views of many members of the
United Nations on the Prime Minister's conference proposal (a copy
of which he sent to them). He also asked whether concerned
countries would be prepared to accept more refugees for settlement.
The request to the United Kingdom is to absorb a maximum figure of 10,000 people over the next 12 months. This would subsume the unused
part of our commitment to take 1,500.
2. The United Nations Secretary-General announced on 30 June that
an international meeting would be held in Geneva on 20-21 July to
which some 60 countries were invited, The conference will deal with
"all humanitarian aspects" of the problem, but not, Dr Waldheim
intends, with the political aspect, in Vietnam's responsibility for
the situation. We do not yet know who will attend.
SCALE OF THE REFUGEE PROBLEM
3. There may still be over one million ethnic Chinese in South
Vietnam, and 20,000-30,000 in the North, whom it is the Vietnamese
Government's policy to get rid of.
· 4 ·
Additionally, many of the ethnic Vietnamese of the former middle class in the South, whose means of livelihood have been removed, and who face the stark alternative of being transferred to a "New Economic Zone" will prefer to risk leaving by sea if they can get the money to pay for the trip; many of them have relatives abroad, who can make
money available.
5. It is impossible to guess how many Vietnamese will be able to leave, but the figure could amount to hundreds of thousands.
FONFTRENTIAL
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