CONFIDENTIAL
progress report; but his presentation, though lengthy, had been so vague and discursive as to be virtually worthless. The other parti- cipants had therefore concluded that the UNHCR had done little to bring this idea to fruition and had urged its representative to make greater efforts in the future.
5. There had been some talk about the "orderly departure programme" All had basically supported this scheme but the Japanese and Americans had expressed some doubts about its administration by the Vietnamese. Ambassador Douglas had pointed out that the UNHCR office in Ho Chi Minh City was under 24-hour armed guard, and thus entirely inaccessible to ordinary Vietnamese who wished to apply for a place on the orderly departure programme.
He had also complained that the US would like to take in survivors from the old South Vietnam government and military establishment but had no way of locating them and getting their names on the lists.
In
6. Masui confirmed that there had been no specific discussion of Hong Kong. He also said that there had been no decision on the venue or timing of the next meeting or, indeed, on its participants. I said that there seemed to be some expectation that it would be held in Tokyo. Masui agreed that this idea had got around, but thought there could be problems. From November until March the Refugee Division would be heavily involved in negotiations on their budget for 1984 and would have little time to devote to preparations for such a meeting. If Tokyo was the venue, therefore, the meeting would probably have to be after March next year. This might not be soon enough for Ambassador Douglas who might choose to convene an earlier meeting elsewhere. any event, the ball was in his court. On participation, the Japanese thought ourselves, the French and the Germans should certainly be invited and they also attached considerable importance to ASEAN repres- entation, whether as a single or 5 separate delegations. They had glas's insisted on amending Ambassador draft press statement to allow for
possible ASEAN participation in the future and had already discussed the idea informally with the Thais and Indonesians, whose reaction had been positive. They also thought the next meeting should be at senior official level but saw little prospect of getting their way. The problem here was that Mr West seemed very keen to attend future meetings himself rather than be represented by his officials: while Ambassador Douglas was "in his own eyes" of Ministerial rather than official rank.
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Hong Kong
Chanceries:
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Kain Dorrech
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First Secretary
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Canberra
Washington
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