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5
1783
Vietnamese Refugees
18 JULY 1979
The flow of refugees is continuing and there is no sign of its ceasing at present. We have tried to do what we can to bring pressure to bear on Vietnam, but our relations with that country are not very close. We have done what we can and we hope that other countries will do all they can, because it cannot be in the interests of the Vietnamese Government to alienate all their neighbours in South- East Asia.
Mr. Patrick McNair-Wilson: Can my right hon. Friend tell us who will pay for this operation? Is he aware that my con- stituents living around Sopley camp are very concerned whether this is a charge on the Government or whether, because local authority facilities are being used, the ratepayers will be expected to pay? Can he tell us when the first refugees in this new group will arrive, and whether the existing facilities will be used?
Sir 1. Gilmour: This is a Government responsibility, and the expense will not fall on the local authorities.
Mr. Ennals: Contrary to the abhorrent views put forward by the right hon. Mem- ber for Down, South (Mr. Powell), there
are those of us on both sides of the House and in all parts of the country who have been urging that more refugees should be admitted as part of a massive effort to deal with this huge problem, and we warmly welcome the statement today. This will give some relief to Hong Kong. Will the Minister accept from me, on behalf of the voluntary organisations, the assurance that they will co-operate to the full both with the Government and with local authorities in settling these unfor- tunate people in our country.
Sir I. Gilmour: I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. We deeply admire the efforts being made by the voluntary organisations. Obviously, we all wish that the situation had not arisen, but since it has it is only right that we should play our part in trying to solve it.
Mr. Hugh Fraser: Is my right hon. Friend aware that in Staffordshire mem- bers of the National Front took the part of the Vietnamese Government in trying to attack the local refugees but were dis- persed with contumely by local police? Will he put further pressure on the Soviet Union to persuade that country, as far as it is possible to do so, to control this
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1784
Vietnamese Refugees
movement, which is against all laws and all considerations of humanity? Will he endeavour to ensure that in his central organisation for the care of these refugees proper attention is given not just to the education of children but to the educa- tion, in the English language, of the adults who arrive here?
Sir I. Gilmour: I am sure that my right hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is important to educate not only the children but the adults, and the evidence so far in other countries is that these people learn very fast. I am grateful for what my right hon. Friend said in the first part of his question. Of course we shall do everything to try to make the Soviet Union bring its influence to bear on the Vietnam Government. So far we have failed in our efforts, but I cannot believe that it is in Vietnam's interests to fly in the face of the opinion of virtually the whole of the civilised world.
Mr. Frank Allaun: The Minister re- ferred to the callous and inhuman be- haviour of the Vietnamese Government Did he make the slightest protest when the American Government were bombing that country to bits? I am not opposing the reception of refugees into this country. but would it not be possible for the British Government to give some relief to the thousands of political prisoners in Latin America who are being tortured at pre- sent? I gather that most of the Viet- namese refugees are not being tortured, but are getting out with considerable financial aid.
Sir I. Gilmour: Even the hon. Mem- ber for Salford, East (Mr. Allaun) has never given a clearer example of double standards. Many of us took very different views about the Vietnam war, but that is nothing to do with what is taking place now. We see a callous, calculated policy people merely because they are of Chinese to expel from Vietnam about 1 million stock-
Mr. Skinner: The Minister is getting wound up now.
Sir I. Gilmour: Perhaps the racial poli- cies of the Vietnamese Government appeal to the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner), but they certainly do not appeal to anybody else. By trying to defend those policies by talking about something that is going wrong elsewhere