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4.
During discussion of Hong Kong's problems Mr Landau made the now familiar remark that it will be difficult to persuade other countries to take refugees while the UK itself does little.
5.
a
when
Mr Segar made the useful point that we were discussing the deterrent effect of closed camps. He pointed out that it probably takes anything from eight to twelve months from someone deciding to leave Vietnam to the time when enough money has been saved to buy a boat, offer the necessary bribes, etc. It would be unlikely that people would be put off once they had taken the decision to go.
If closed camps therefore have any deterrent effect it would probably take eight months before it could be seen. If this is correct we ought to see the effects soon.
Tom Smith
7 March 1983
T W M Smith
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