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CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
Sir Murray MacLehose GBE KCMG: KCVO Governor and Commander-in-Chief HONG KONG
See/13
16 January 1981
HKE
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RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO. 51 ? 8 JAN 1981
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By Zwecks MAS
NEW UK QUOTA FOR VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
1. Now that Hartling's visit has passed without creating any great difficulty over a new quota for Vietnamese refugees or those from China, we have been considering with South-East Asian Departemnt how best to proceed on the first point. I was also able to discuss this with Bim Davies on 8 January.
2. We have taken as our starting point your wish that a final decision should be delayed as long as possible and preferably until after Lord Carrington's visit to Hong Kong. There are, of course, factors which could interfere with this timetable, eg the possibility of the Americans or Canadians coming back to us sooner with demands that the UK should be seen to be playing its part in the international resettlement programme and the possibility of the arrival of large boatloads provoking an earlier review. But with the proviso that we may need to adjust our tactics quickly, we agree with your thinking.
3. As the Secretary of State's visit approaches we shall need to ensure that our briefier highlights the problem as effectively as possible. This will enable Lord Carrington to focus on it in advance and, if necessary, to mention the matter to appropriate
As we see, Cabinet colleagues before he leaves for the Far East. this process would be considerably helped if, at a suitable time (say, the end of February), you were to send a message, recalling your discussion with the Secretary of State in November 1980, giving your up-to-date assessment of the resettlement situation and suggesting that this should be discussed during his visit. Depending on your views and on the position at that time, we might then recommend that Lord Carrington should let the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary know that he intended to discuss this with you in Hong Kong and would let them have his views on his return.
4.
This leaves the very real problem of what to say to the Americans. As you will see from the attached copy of the American Secretary of State's letter to Lord Carrington of 3 December 1980, they have already raised this with us. Given that the quota is coming to an end, we do not think we can for much longer hold our present line that a decision has yet to be taken which Lord Carrington did in reply to Mr Muskie
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CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL